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The neural architecture and evolution of language| title | The neural architecture and evolution of language |
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| start_date | 2022/09/14 |
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| schedule | 10h30-13h - Heure de Tucson |
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| online | yes |
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| visio | https://arizona.zoom.us/j/83059854210 |
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| summary | Nineteenth century models of the neurology of language were fundamentally sensorimotor and therefore were largely abandoned in favor of linguistically-based models by the end of 1970s. However, classical models account for a set of core facts about the neural architecture of language and the patterns of deficit following brain injury that purely linguistically-based models do not capture. I will argue that an integration of sensorimotor and linguistic models results in a better account of the neurology of language, which is built on (evolved from) a sensorimotor architecture. Specifically, broad linguistic levels of representation (phonology, syntax) are organized in terms of sensory-motor architectures involving both sensory-related systems in the temporal lobe, which participate in receptive and expressive functions, and motor-related systems in the frontal lobe, which primarily participate in expressive functions. This is the so-called dual stream architecture, which is also evident in visual/visuomotor cortex organization. During language production, the systems appear to make use of computations that are familiar from motor control, including forward prediction and state feedback control. Aspects of the architecture and computations of language are therefore homologous to that of non-linguistic sensorimotor systems. Syntax fits this architecture on the assumption that the hierarchical component is in the temporal lobe and performs a mapping from linear phonological input to hierarchical representations during comprehension and from thoughts to syntactic hierarchies during production. Morphosyntactic linearization of those hierarchies is accomplished by the motor-related systems in the frontal lobe. I will also discuss the recent discovery of a parallel motor-related circuits for speech coordination, a more dorsal one involved in pitch/prosodic/song coordination and a more ventral one involved in phonetic/syllabic coordination. |
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| responsibles | Piatelli-Palmarini, Chomsky, Bever |
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Workflow history| from state (1) | to state | comment | date |
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| submitted | published | | 2022/09/08 11:51 UTC |
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