Dall'universale della lingua agli universali linguistici, passando per le lingue classiche

Within the issue on the relation between the language universals and the classical languages, i.e., Ancient Greek and Latin, two approaches are clearly identifiable. According to the former, since the human language is part of the natural endowment mankind possesses, it must have universals: the world’s different languages turn out to be only variants of only one grammar, common to all men. For centuries the role exerted by Latin (and secondarily, by Ancient Greek) has been decisive, thanks to its historical and cultural prestige: the grammar of Latin was the grammar. In the latter approach, the existence of language universals is not presupposed. Language universals, if any, rather become an object to investigate according to methodological criteria, whose origin can be traced back to the Aristotelian doctrine. In this approach no privileged linguistic status is any longer acknowledged to the classical languages.