Perhaps the foundational complex trait behind our uniqueness, human language is a phenotype embedded in the human condition. The interplay between the genetic architecture that capacitates language and the environments that develop this capacity has endowed humanity with unprecedented cognitive ability. The FOXP2 gene, a hallmark of our language genotype, and its environmental mechanisms are illuminating this integral phenotype.
While a phenotype as multifaceted as human language is certainly polygenic, FOXP2 is distinct in being linked to grammar. Because genes enabling cognitive faculties are often implicated in pathology, when the famous “KE” family displayed mutated alleles of FOXP2 resulting in dyspraxia, a motor speech disorder, it suggested that language deficiencies resulted from mutated gene expression in the brain (Spiteri et. al 2007). Indeed, FOXP2 is a potent transcription regulator, transcribing proteins that form complex neuronal networks in the brain’s computational modules, developing remarkable propensity for language (Spiteri et. al 2007).
Comparative genomics in chimpanzees is unravelling how this genetic capacity for human language evolved. Human syntactic facilities, particularly our construction of infinite semantics from finite grammar, suggests a uniquely human mechanism deriving from our genotype (Di Sciullo et. al 2010). FOXP2 revealed just two amino acid differences between humans and chimpanzees along with neurological differences in gene expression of motor-speech circuitry (Spiteri et. al 2007). This posits evidence for positive selection on FOXP2 mutations as the reason for the gene’s accelerated evolution in recent evolutionary history, and for its role in computing uniquely human grammars (S...
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...pression in the songbird brain, the songbirds’ phenotypic behaviours not only reflect their own language capacity, but uncover a fundamental evolutionary connection with similar social patterns capacitating humanity’s language acquisition.
Researching FOXP2 and its environmental interface is unravelling the basis of language’s enormous power. But in beginning to demystify the language phenotype’s enigmas, research poses even more questions. Among them, where does FOXP2 fit within such a polygenic phenotype? What is the biological basis between gene expression and environmental contexts in human language? Yet in this research, we begin to sense the elaborate structure of vast genetic repertoire and marvelous cognitive capacity, the evolutionary preeminence of a phenotype that has produced, to quote Darwin, “from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful.”
9. Research on the language capabilities of apes clearly demonstrates that they have the capacity to:
Primates and their behavior are used by scientists to estimate the capacities of human ancestors. Since humans and numerous primate species employ vocalizations as their primary means of communication, the vocal aspect of primate behavior has been a principal focus of studies exploring the origins of human language. Studies indicate that in spite of important differences, primate vocalizations exhibit some key features that characterize human language. However, some critical aspects of human speech, such as vocal plasticity, are missing in primate language (Fedurek and
How can it be that something so uniquely human and commonplace in our everyday existence as language, could transcend the limits of our immediate understanding? We all know how to speak and comprehend at least one language, but defining what we actually know about that language an infinitely more demanding process. How can a child without previous knowledge of the construction and concepts of language be born into the world with an innate ability to apprehend any dialect? Mark Baker, in his book The Atoms of Language, seeks to address these unsettling questions, proposing as a solution, a set of underlying linguistic ingredients, which interact to generate the wide variety of languages we see today.
Oshima-Takane, Y., Goodz, E., & Deverensky, J.L. (1996). Birth Order Effects on Early Language Development: Do Secondborn Children Learn from Overheard Speech? Child Development, (67), 621-634.
In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. “I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.”
Many researchers wonder if chimpanzees are really able to use language in a rudimentary way, or if it is just created by operant conditioning. Psychologists realized, as far back as 60 years ago, that chimps would never be able to learn spoken language. They do not have the specialized tongue, lips, teeth, facial muscles, and palate that humans do to make the vast array of speech sounds that humans do. Researchers have instead tried to teach chimps some visual form of language.
Language has a significant impact on cognitive development as according to Vygotsky language precedes thinking. (Powell, Katherine C, Kalina, Cody J p241) A common language is necessary for people to interact socially. Language is...
... middle of paper ... ... Language development also is influenced by environmental experiences, including culture” (p. 116).
In the last few decades, the notion of language and brain has been highlighted in different scientific fields such as: neurology, cognitive science, linguistics biology, technology and finally education.
Language acquisition is perhaps one of the most debated issues of human development. Various theories and approaches have emerged over the years to study and analyse this developmental process. One factor contributing to the differing theories is the debate between nature v’s nurture. A question commonly asked is: Do humans a...
Most people take it for granted that children will develop cognition, language and communication skills when they reach a certain stage in their life. In fact, various studies have been conducted regarding these aspects of human development. A common topic for debate is the issue of nature versus nurture, wherein some groups support the idea that language and cognitive development is as natural as breathing while other groups contend that external factors influence these characteristics of human progress. Researchers are given the opportunity to dig deeper into this issue through cases involving feral, isolated and confined children.
To continue with the key features, language is known to be special because of how children are able to learn in ways that are different from learning other things. (Willingham, 2007). Strong evidence shows how prepared the human brain is to learn language with very little stimulation. The results that show this point of view to be true is known to be the worldwide consistency of language learning.
Biological foundation of language may contribute significantly to such universality. The issue here is not whether language is innate, for, clearly, language must be learned. Nor is the issue whether the aptitude for learning a la...
Wilder Penfield and Lamar Roberts first introduced the idea that there is a “critical period” for learning language in 1959. This critical period is a biologically determined period referring to a period of time when learning/acquiring a language is relatively easy and typically meets with a high degree of success. German linguist Eric Lenneberg further highlights Roberts and Penfield’s findings and postulated the Critical Period Hypothesis in 1967. According to the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), certain biological events related to language development can only happen in the critical period. During this time, the brain possesses a degree of flexibility (ability and ease of learning a language) and becomes lateralized (assignment of language functions becomes concrete – either in the left or right hemisphere) (Marinova-Todd, S; Marshall, D & Snow, C. 2000 9-10). This critical period lasts from childhood through the onset of puberty (usually at around 12 years of age). Once this period is over, it is more difficult to learn a language because language functions in the brain have become concrete. This hypothesis can be seen with the case of Genie, a woman who was isolated from human interaction and language up to the age of 13. By the time she was rescued, she was well after the critical period for language acquisition, and as such, she did not have a full command of the English language. Had she been rescued before the age of 13, she may have had more linguistic capability. However, this accounts for firs...
Children’s acquisition of language has long been considered one of the uniquely defining characteristics of human behaviour.