The special phonological talents of humans, reviewed in the previous chapter, demand an explanation. This chapter articulates two rival accounts for these facts. One view asserts that humans are biologically equipped with a specialized system for phonological patterning, the phonological grammar. The productivity of phonological patterns, their spontaneous emergence and universality all spring from two broad properties of the system: its algebraic computational machinery, and the presence of substantive universal constraints on the structure of potential phonological patterns. On an alternative explanation, the phonological talents of humans result from systems that are not specialized for phonological patterning. The following discussion outlines these two competing hypotheses as the basis for their evaluation, in subsequent chapters.

The phonological grammar is a core algebraic system

Humans are equipped with remarkable phonological talents. We instinctively recognize phonological patterns in the structure of our language, we spontaneously generate phonological systems anew, and the patterns we produce have some recurrent and potentially unique design properties.