The linguistic theory posits that universal grammar reflects an innate biological _______ rather than purely cultural conditioning.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. predisposition

  1. Step 1: Contrast the concept of purely external cultural conditioning with Noam Chomsky's nativist theory of language acquisition.
  2. Step 2: In nativist linguistics, humans possess an inherent, genetically hardwired tendency or natural inclination to acquire grammatical structures, termed a biological "predisposition".
Answer
predisposition.

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