[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by bianca

There is indeed a universal grammar, (Chomsky), but this is about our intrinsic grasp of language - i.e. we are capable of producing language due to this universal grammar or linguistic system, or system of signs, as semiologists refer to.

Not to my understanding. Universal grammar and a language's grammar are two separate things. Universal meaning, all human languages share certain characteristics, and those similarities are certainly not intrinsic. Intrinsic knowledge refers to native speakers, not to second language learners. Unless, that is, you're talking about interference errors, in which case intrinsic knowledge of an L1 system comes into play. Maybe you mean innate knowledge?

Originally Posted by bianca

Chomsky also claimed that: "when we learn to speak we don't deduce grammar. Instead we discover it by matching up what we hear against the pre-existing structures in our brain." This is what I mean when saying that grammar comes after language; language grows and becomes more complex through a set of grammatical codes, just like the brain develops through thinking.

Isn't it more plausible though to say that grammar gets easier since learners discover that language is constrainted by a finite system of rules? The rules are constant, the input variable.

Originally Posted by bianca

Grammar is the ability of language to express ideas, to joggle with words and create meaning. The human brain is too underdeveloped at its earliest stages to express thought through articulate speech, and grammar.

True, but keep in mind that language is a system and that system is constrained by rules and those rules are called its grammar. English grammar, like any other language's grammar, is rule based; change the rules, and you change the system, the language.

Originally Posted by bianca

You also mentioned that language is born independently of culture.

I said that?

Originally Posted by bianca

The precedence of language over reality was clearly formulated by American linguists in the early 20th century by what is known as the Sapir-Whorf theory.

Clearly formulated, but widely rejected. Do you agree with that theory, and, moreover, do you think it applies here? English grammar rules, worldwide?