Universal Grammar (UG) is a theory of both the fundamental principles for all possible languages and the language faculty in the "initial state" of the human organism. These two volumes approach the study of UG by joint, tightly linked studies of both linguistic theory and human competence for language acquisition. In particular, the volumes collect comparable studies across a number of different languages, carefully analyzed by a wide range of international scholars.

The issues surrounding cross-linguistic variation in "Heads, Projections, and Learnability" (Volume 1) and in "Binding, Dependencies, and Learnability" (Volume 2) are arguably the most fundamental in UG. How can principles of grammar be learned by general learning theory? What is biologically programmed in the human species in order to guarantee their learnability? What is the true linguistic representation for these areas of language knowledge? What universals exist across languages?

The two volumes summarize the most critical current proposals in each area, and offer both theoretical and empirical evidence bearing on them. Research on first language acquisition and formal learnability theory is placed at the center of debates relative to linguistic theory in each area. The convergence of research across several different disciplines -- linguistics, developmental psychology, and computer science -- represented in these volumes provides a paradigm example of cognitive science.

"This is perhaps the most comprehensive and intelligible presentation of current first language acquisition theory within (and extending) a Principles and Parameters approach. the quality of the 39 papers is generally extremely high, and the editing is suburb....there is much in these volumes to interest second language researchers. Issues of learnability, language-specific versus universal proceses, and continuity pervade acquisition studies whether they focus on first or second language acquisition. And for those who wish to catch up on the trends in linguistic theory-driven first language, the very accessibility of these volumes makes them worth the investment....the reader will be rewarded both by a deepened understanding of the theory itself and by some trends and conclusions in this research."
—Studies in Second Language Acquisition

"Since the origins of modern work in generative grammar, theory construction has adopted a framework that may be interpreted as an abstract model of acquisition, and it has been clear that research should proceed in close interaction with investigations of the actual process of language acquisition, each study informing the other. These volumes show how much progress has been made in recent years in turning this hope into a reality. They are an impressive contribution, which give a highly informative picture of the state of contemporary understanding, and should greatly stimulate and advance these interacting inquiries."
—Noam Chomsky
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lust, (Vol.1)Barbara; Suer, Margarita; Whitman, John; Lust, (Vol.2)Barbara; Hermon, Gabriella