The Biology of Language

Publication Date

Winter 12-2024

Presentation Length

15 minutes

College

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Department

English, Department of

Student Level

Undergraduate

SPARK Category

Knowledge

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Monteverde

SPARK Session

Dr. Monteverde registered several of us students as a group already.

Presentation Type

Talk/Oral

Summary

The concept of “nature” versus “nurture” has long been a question that humans have wrestled with understanding. Particularly in regard to language development, recent improvements in technology have allowed scientists to investigate the existence of an instinctual component of language. Renowned cognitive psychologist Dr. Steven Pinker discusses biological factors involved in language acquisition and usage in his book The Language Instinct, and these revelations largely form the basis of this research paper. First, this paper will open with an overview of necessary biological context, including a discussion of speech organs and known neurological language functions. After this basic framework has been established, it will move into a discussion of language development in children and critical periods of language acquisition. Following this, the paper will then turn to the evidence that indicates an innate understanding of grammar and syntax by synthesizing the work of many previous neuropsychologists and examining observations of similarities between languages. The benefits and potential system for the organization of this innate neural circuitry are then detailed to further underscore the biological advantages which have led to the evolution of an instinctual organized processing mechanism. The paper closes with theories surrounding this evolution of language and the emphasis of the many questions that still remain about language. The combination of two seemingly different fields of study in this paper serves to further explore the wonder and complexity of language and underscore how introducing a biological perspective can offer a unique viewpoint of the inexplicable phenomenon that is language.

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