Which group believes that language is universal?

• A. Structuralist
• B. Interactionist
• C. Second language
• D. Transformationalists

Answer: (D)

Universal Grammar says there’s an innate set of grammatical principles shared by all humans. Transformationalists, working with transformational grammar, argue that these universal principles underlie all languages and that the different languages we see are just surface forms produced by applying transformations to a common deep structure. So the idea that language is universal comes from this view: despite vast differences, languages reflect the same underlying blueprint, which helps explain why children can learn any language so quickly.

Structuralists study how the parts of a language fit together within a single language, focusing on patterns without positing universal rules across all languages. Interactionists emphasize how social interaction and communicative needs shape language learning and use, rather than innate universal structures. The term second language describes someone learning a language other than their native one, not a theory about universals.