How did Noam Chomsky’s theory of innate language structures resemble Cartesian ideas?

Noam Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition draws significant inspiration from the rationalist tradition of Cartesianism, particularly through the shared emphasis on innate ideas as the foundation for human knowledge and creativity.12

Chomsky’s work aligns with Cartesian thought in the following ways:

• Rationalist Foundations: Like the Cartesians, Chomsky rejects the empiricist view that all knowledge is derived solely from sense experience. Instead, he argues that humans possess an innate, biologically based cognitive capacity for language, which he terms Universal Grammar.1345
• Innate Structures: Chomsky identifies precursors to his theories in the writings of René Descartes and the 17th-century Port Royal grammarians. He adopts the rationalist premise that humans are born with the necessary conceptual machinery to generate and combine concepts, which allows children to acquire complex language with remarkable speed despite the "poverty of the stimulus"—the lack of sufficient environmental input to explain their linguistic competence.432
• Human Creativity: Chomsky views language as a uniquely human capacity that enables "ordinary creativity," mirroring the Cartesian belief that human reason and creativity depend on innate systems of thought.2