Universal Grammar and Chaos/Complexity Theory: Where Do They Meet and Where Do They Cross?

The present study begins by sketching “chaos/complexity theory” (c/ct) and its application to the nature of language and language acquisition. then, the theory of “universal grammar” (ug) is explicated with an eye to c/ct. firstly, it is revealed that cct may or may not be allied with a theory of language acquisition that takes ug as the initial state of language acquisition for granted. to compound the problem, even those c/ct theorists who adhere to ug conceptualize it differently from chomsky to meet the conditions set forth in c/ct, and dismiss the idea of studying language acquisition without leaving room for investigating language use. secondly, it is argued that unlike chomsky’s postulation of ug and generative grammar as mutational, c/ct theorists conceive of them as evolutionary phenomena. thirdly, it is discussed that while advocates of ug, as a biologically predetermined state of the mind, believe that it has no analogue in other systems, c/ct proponents postulate their all-embracing theory as underlying all kinds of complex nonlinear systems operating in the world, of which language is only a case.