Innateness hypothesis
EXPRESSION COINED BY HILARY PUTNAM TO REFER TO A LINGUISTIC THEORY OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION WHICH HOLDS THAT AT LEAST SOME KNOWLEDGE ABOUT LANGUAGE EXISTS IN HUMANS AT BIRTH.
Nativist hypothesis; Innatist hypothesis; Innate linguistic capacity; Innateness position; Innatist position; Nativist position; Rationalist position
In linguistics, the innateness hypothesis is a hypothesis which holds that humans are born with at least some knowledge of linguistic structure. On this hypothesis, language acquisition involves filling in the details of an innate blueprint rather than being an entirely inductive process.