The Evolving Brain: Opposing Views of Language Acquisition

Erlich’s chapter on the evolving brain explains theories on how the mind and body connection has developed over time to create human language and modern human behavior. Erlich relies on theories generated by Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor and Franz Gali to elucidate the idea that “various brain functions are indeed localized.” One of the areas of the brain involved with language acquisition is Broca’s Area which is often cited as evidence of the modular functioning of the brain, however, research done by Gary F Marcus, Athena Vouloumanos & Ivan A Sag suggests a refinement of previously accepted paradigms is in order. “Rather than there being a single, localizable ‘language module,’ our faculty for language might consist of a small number of uniquely human neural substrates working in tandem with a wide range of other evolutionarily conserved mechanisms.”

One of the concepts Chomsky has linked to the idea of language being a localized function of the brain is Universal Grammar, (UG), where gradual but steady progress is made by all humans as they learn the rules of the language spoken around them. Erlich relies on UG as a principle of natural selection which “endowed our ancestors with brains, able early in an individual’s development, to acquire easily one or more languages.” Erlich goes on to stress that “understanding the pattern of brain-language coevolution is clearly central to understanding our human natures.”

While Chomsky’s theories have been commonly regaled as the pre-eminent framework for understanding how our brains acquire and use language there are those that disagree. In Philip Lieberman’s study he attributes subscription to Chomsky’s UG theory as being the reason why many have misinterpreted data related to the FOXP2 gene, “one source of evidence for UG would be a genetic anomaly that prevented afflicted individuals from mastering a specific aspect of English syntax, while retaining other aspects of normal linguistic ability. This was reported to be the case for the afflicted members of a large extended family (KE) who suffer from a genetically transmitted anomaly.”

Lieberman goes on to say that the problems with the KE family were not just the FOXP2 abnormality but also other abnormalities of the brain which did lead to significant differences in their mean intelligence when compared to other non-affected members of their family, as well as, physical abnormalities which contributed to their impaired speech function. Lieberman suggests that what is really significant about FOXP2 is that it regulates the expression of other genes during embryogenesis, such that the mutation of this (FOXP2) amino acid leads to a protein dysfunction which affects many areas of the brain and development including: “the thalamus, caudate nucleus and putamen as well as the inferior olives and cerebellum. These structures are all intricately interconnected. As Lai et al. (2003) point out, their data are consistent with the emerging view that subcortical structures play a significant role in linguistic reasoning.”

Works Cited:

Marcus, Gary F, Athena Vouloumanos, and Ivan A Sag. "Does Broca's play by the rules?." Nature Neuroscience 6.7 (July 2003): 651.

Lieberman, Philip. "The pied piper of Cambridge." Linguistic Review 22.2-4 (June 2005): 289-301.

Erlich, Paul R. (Chapter 6) Evolving Brains, Evolving Minds