The well-known linguist Noam Chomsky (1957) has argued that the human brain contains a limited set of rules for organizing language, so that all languages have a common structural basis. Chomsky calls this set of rules universal grammar.
That people can learn foreign languages and that words and ideas translate from one language to another supports Chomsky’s position that all humans have similar linguistic abilities and thought processes.
Another line of support comes from creole languages. Such languages develop from pidgins, languages that form in situations of acculturation, when different societies come into contact and must devise a system of communication. Pidgins based on English and native languages developed through trade and colonialism in many world areas, including China, Papua New Guinea, and West Africa. Eventually, after generations of being spoken, pidgins may develop into creole languages. These are more mature languages, with developed grammatical rules and native speakers (people who learn the language as their primary one during enculturation).
Creoles are spoken in several Caribbean societies. Gullah, which is spoken by African Americans on coastal islands in South Carolina and Georgia, is a creole language. Supporting the idea that creoles are based on universal grammar is the fact that such languages all share certain features. Syntactically, all use particles (e.g., will, was) to form future and past tenses and multiple negation to deny or negate (e.g., he don’t got none). Also, all form questions by changing inflection rather than by changing word order. For example, “You’re going home for the holidays?” (with a rising tone at the end) rather than “Are you going home for the holidays?”