Discuss the concept of linguistic universals and how they provide insights into the structure and evolution of human language.

Linguistic universals are features or patterns found across all human languages, suggesting common cognitive constraints or evolutionary origins. They include features like recursion, phonemic contrasts, and grammatical categories. Studying universals helps uncover underlying principles of language structure and evolution, such as the human capacity for language acquisition and processing. However, debates persist over the extent and nature of universals, with some proposing cultural or environmental influences.