Questions: Principles and Parameters Theory of Universal Grammar

Question 1

A child acquiring Italian simultaneously acquires null subjects ('Parla bene' without an overt pronoun), free subject-verb inversion in declaratives, and the absence of expletive subjects — without being taught each property separately. Principles and Parameters theory explains this because:

• A. Italian input provides explicit negative evidence (correction) whenever the child makes an error on any of these properties
• B. Children learn by imitating adult speakers, and Italian adults consistently demonstrate all three properties in natural speech
• C. These properties are all correlated consequences of setting the null-subject parameter to [+pro-drop], so one parameter setting acquires the whole cluster
• D. All three properties are universal principles, so every child acquires them regardless of language

Answer: (C)

The clustering prediction is the framework's most powerful feature. Setting [+null subject] doesn't just allow null subjects — it implicates a correlated cluster of properties including subject-verb inversion and absence of expletives, because these are parametrically linked. A child who sets [+null subject] acquires the whole cluster at once from a small amount of evidence. This is far more efficient than learning each property through separate induction from input, and it explains cross-linguistic co-variation patterns that would otherwise be mysterious coincidences.

Question 2

Which of the following is an example of a PRINCIPLE (rather than a parameter) in the Principles and Parameters framework?

• A. Whether a language requires overt subjects in all finite clauses
• B. The direction in which heads and complements are ordered (head-initial vs. head-final)
• C. The constraint that all grammatical rules operate on hierarchical phrase structure rather than linear word order
• D. Whether a language permits morphologically rich verbal agreement

Answer: (C)

Structure dependence — the constraint that grammatical rules operate on hierarchical phrase structure, never on linear sequences — is invariant across all languages. Children never make structure-independent errors even though the input cannot teach this constraint directly. This is a principle: absolute, universal, and not learnable from positive evidence. The other options are parametric: languages vary in whether they require overt subjects, how they order head and complement, and how rich their agreement morphology is. The principle/parameter distinction is not just taxonomic — it determines whether a property must be innate (principles) or can be learned from input (parameters).

Question 3

In Principles and Parameters theory, principles are the variable component of Universal Grammar that differs across languages, while parameters are the invariant universal constraints.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This reverses the framework's core distinction. Principles are invariant — they hold across every natural language without exception and cannot be overridden. Parameters are the variable component: they have more than one possible setting, and children must determine from their input which value their language has selected. The classic example is the null-subject parameter: English is [-null subject] and Italian is [+null subject]. The principle of structure dependence, by contrast, holds equally in both languages and in every other language studied.

Question 4

The clustering of co-varying grammatical properties around a single parameter setting is one of the framework's most theoretically productive features and represents a genuine empirical prediction about cross-linguistic variation.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

The clustering prediction is falsifiable: it predicts that languages should not vary randomly property-by-property but should cluster into types defined by parameter settings, with correlated properties co-varying predictably. If languages varied independently on each property, the parameter concept would have no explanatory value. The null-subject cluster (pro-drop, subject-verb inversion, absence of expletives, richer agreement morphology) is the canonical example of a predicted cluster that has been confirmed cross-linguistically. The framework also predicts that second-language learning will be harder when parameters must be reset.

Question 5

Why does Principles and Parameters theory predict that second-language acquisition should be harder than first-language acquisition, specifically with respect to parameters?

Model answer: In first-language acquisition, children set parameters from a neutral starting point within the innate design space — they simply select the value that their input specifies. In second-language acquisition, the L1 parameters have already been set, and learners must unset or reset them to match the L2. Resetting a parameter is harder than setting it initially because L1 parameter values are deeply entrenched and their implications are distributed across a cluster of correlated properties — not just one behavior. An English speaker acquiring Italian must reset [+null subject] and then update all the correlated properties simultaneously. Persistent difficulty with null subjects, expletives, and inversion by L2 learners is predicted by the need for parameter resetting.

This prediction is borne out by empirical evidence: L2 learners persistently produce errors in the parameter-linked cluster even after achieving fluency in other areas. The framework predicts that these difficulties should be clustered and persistent — not random or equally distributed across all grammatical properties — because they reflect the difficulty of resetting an entrenched parametric value rather than failing to learn isolated rules.