Explaining the Origins of Language Universals and Their Implications in Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages

The common belief among a great number of linguists and psycholinguists is that the solution to the problem of language acquisition، also called the projection problem or Plato’s problem، lies within the prior knowledge. One hypothesis that constitutes the foundation of this belief is that the gap between the child-exposed input (primary data) and the linguistic system (linguistic competence) is so vast that the first language acquisition can be explained only in terms of the prior knowledge. Another hypothesis that underpins this belief is that innate knowledge is the only source of language universals. This paper challenges this common belief from three perspectives: (a) the main features of universal grammar، (b) routes to universal grammar، and (c) the origins of language universals. In addition، it discusses this pluralistic perspective in teaching Persian to speakers of other languages.