(in Chomskyan transformation linguistics) the abstract limitations on the formal grammatical description of all human languages, actual or possible, that make them human languages
universal grammar in American English
noun Linguistics
1.
a grammar that attempts to establish the properties and constraints common to all possible human languages
2.
an innate system of principles underlying the human language faculty
Examples of 'universal grammar' in a sentence
universal grammar
He does not believe that humans have a ' universal grammar' hard- wired into their brains.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Similarly, there is no universal grammar that can be detected beneath all the 7,000 languages in the world.