diff --git a/spacy/language.py b/spacy/language.py
index e08bd42ad..62abb1703 100644
--- a/spacy/language.py
+++ b/spacy/language.py
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ class Language(object):
     def __init__(self, **overrides):
         if 'data_dir' in overrides and 'path' not in overrides:
             raise ValueError("The argument 'data_dir' has been renamed to 'path'")
-        path = overrides.get('path')
+        path = overrides.get('path', True)
         if isinstance(path, basestring):
             path = pathlib.Path(path)
         if path is True: