Languageq

Justin C Wise, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, GA, United States

Rose A Sevcik, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States
Ó 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Components of Language 1

Language Development Over the Lifespan 2
Infancy 2
Preschool Years 2
Language and Literacy in the School Years 2
Language Development in the Adult Years 3
Language in Special Populations 3
Theories of Language Development 3
Behavioral Theory 4
Linguistic Theory 4
Cognitive Developmental Theory 4
Sociolinguistic Theory 4
Connectionism 4
The Biological Bases of Language 5
Animal Communication 5
Neurolinguistics 6
Plasticity 6
Genetics 7
Conclusions 7
Further Reading 7

Glossary
Grammar It is the component of language that contains the
rules that dictate how words are combined into sentences
to convey complex ideas and intentions.
Language It is a code with structural properties
characterized by a set of rules for producing and
comprehending utterances through the use of arbitrary
symbols.
Neurolinguistics It is the study of the manner and location
of the processing of linguistic information in the brain.
Phonology It is the sound system of a language and
involves the rules that govern the structure, distribution,
and sequencing of speech sounds.
Plasticity Refers to the ability of the human brain to change
and adapt in response to environmental stimuli.
Semantics It is a system of rules governing the meaning of
words and word combinations.

Language is a code with structural properties characterized by a set of rules for producing and comprehending utterances through
the use of arbitrary symbols. Often assumed to be synonymous with language, speech is a specific type of motor output for the
production of language. Language also may be produced through signing and writing. Language and its various modes of produc-
tion fall under the much broader concept of communication, which is the process of sharing or giving information, feelings, and
attitudes. A large number of individuals from the behavioral and biological disciplines have spent decades attempting to study and
understand the nature of language development. This brief overview of language will outline recent and historical attempts to study
the origins and development of language.

The Components of Language

Language is a complex system that is generally divided into four primary components: phonology, semantics, grammar, and prag-
matics. Phonology is the sound system of a language and involves the rules that govern the structure, distribution, and sequencing
of speech sounds. There are approximately 3000 languages in the world that all use 50 or fewer sounds produced by the human

q
Change History. November 2015 Wise and Sevcik updated the text and few sections.

Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.06473-7 1

2 Language

vocal tract that are called phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that are significant to a native speaker of a particular
language (i.e., consonant and vowel sounds).
Semantics is a system of rules governing the meaning of words and word combinations. Semantics is a system in which words of
a specific language represent objects, actions, events, and concepts that exist in an individual’s daily life; although words are not
necessarily analogous to their referents. Word meanings, or vocabulary, are hierarchically structured and are linked to each other
through a semantic network.
Grammar is the component of language that contains the rules that dictate how words are combined into sentences to convey
complex ideas and intentions. Grammar is composed of two smaller aspects called syntax and morphology. Syntax are the rules that
govern the ordering of elements of phrases, clauses, and sentences, while morphology is concerned with the use of morphemes (i.e.,
the smallest units in language that convey meaning). For example, in English, plural endings vary according to the last sound of the
word stem.
The final component of language, pragmatics, involves the rules that guide the use of language in a social context. Pragmatics is
often referred to as communicative competence because it represents the ability to use language appropriately across different social
situations for the purpose of expressing one’s intent and accomplishing various ends.
While each of these components can be described in isolation, successful expression of each component relies on aspects of the
others. Further, although these four components may develop at different rates throughout the lifespan, their development is
continuous and interrelated.

Language Development Over the Lifespan

Infancy
Language development is a fascinating and complex behavior. One of the reasons language development is so remarkable is because
it is never explicitly taught to young children. Language is learned primarily through immersion in a linguistic environment. Even
before children are born, they are exposed to linguistic information and are learning in utero. As young as four-days-old, infants
prefer listening to their own language compared to a foreign language. Young infants also show the ability to distinguish between
phonetic elements of speech. By 6 months, infants evidence canonical babbling represented by repeated consonant/vowel
combinations.
Even before children say their first word, they are communicating intentions through gestures, smiling, eye contact, and vocal-
izations. At around 12 months of age, most children can produce 10 spoken words and can comprehend as many as 50. By their
second birthday, children move from the use of one word utterances to communicate through the use of telegraphic speech, which
is characterized by two word phrases that only contain important words.

Preschool Years
By age three or four, children have acquired the major elements of her native language. During the preschool years, children learn
two to four words a day. It is estimated that by the time a child is 5 years old, she will have learned approximately 6000 words. This
amazing ability to learn words at such a fast rate is attributed largely to the idea of fast mapping. Fast mapping involves a child’s
ability to form a hypothesis about the meaning of a word after only hearing it once or twice.
Around 30 months of age, children’s syntactic skills become more complex and they begin to put together simple, but grammat-
ically correct sentences. Coupled with this, the understanding and use of language in a social situation develops dramatically.
During this time children develop appropriate requesting skills and the ability to adjust speech to different social contexts. Chil-
dren’s ability to carry on and contribute to extended conversations also improves significantly.

Language and Literacy in the School Years

During the school years, children develop metalinguistic awareness, or the ability to understand that language is an object that can
be manipulated. A major hallmark of language development in the school years is the ability to use decontextualized language.
Children increasingly develop the ability to talk about things that do not exist in the immediate context. They are able to share
past experiences and talk about future events. It is not until adolescence that more figurative language concepts such as metaphors
and sarcasm are fully developed.
By the time a child enters kindergarten, she has mastered much of the pragmatic use of language. As a result, peer relationships
become increasingly important and influential. Interactions with peers are frequent, represent extended discourse, and are charged
with emotional content. These interactions are important because they are different from those entered into with adults and provide
a developmental context that encourages the development of important communicative skills such as storytelling, social interaction
competence, and turn-taking.
The rate of vocabulary development during the school years slows and the majority of vocabulary knowledge is learned through
literacy activities rather than exposure to the spoken language. Literacy instruction occurs long before the child enters the school
setting. Children are exposed to a number of different activities that foster the development of print awareness and print use conven-
tions. Further, literacy skills are based on earlier developing oral language skills. An important oral language skill necessary to
 Language 3

successfully learn to read is phonological awareness. The ability to understand that words are composed of smaller phonetic
elements is important when learning to understand that orthographic patterns represent the sounds of speech. Reading, however,
is a complex, multi-component process that involves a number of motor, cognitive, and linguistic skills to coordinate simulta-
neously for the recognition and decoding of words and the comprehension of written sentences.

Language Development in the Adult Years

Opinions have changed concerning the age at which language learning is complete. It is now generally acknowledged that language
development continues throughout the lifespan. It has been estimated that the average adult with a high school education has
a vocabulary store of approximately 60,000–80,000 words. In contrast, an adult who is an avid reader has a mental lexicon of
approximately 120,000–160,000 words. These estimations, however, have been challenged by some and more conservative esti-
mates puts the size of a high school graduate’s vocabulary store to approximately 12,000 word meanings with college graduates’
having a vocabulary store of up to 17,000 word meanings. Some of the controversy resides in the definitions used to define a vocab-
ulary store and the assessment tools used to measure the vocabulary store. For example, more liberal vocabulary estimates may try to
identify the number of individual words a person knows, where more conservative estimates rely on the identification of the
number of root meanings a person can identify. Using this estimate rule, the words play, player, and played would only count
as one vocabulary representation as opposed to three. Adding to the confusion, some estimates are confined to word meaning recog-
nition (i.e., receptive vocabulary), while others are confined to productive demonstrations of word meanings (i.e., expressive vocab-
ulary). Recognition tasks are inherently easier than production tasks and large discrepancies in performance can exist between the
two. Regardless of the true size of an individual’s mental lexicon, it is clear that those individuals who are exposed to advanced
educational experiences and are actively exposed to print continue to learn new words throughout their lifespan.
In addition to vocabulary development, the social use of language continues to change in the adult years. Gender-linked speech
styles continue to develop and females use language more to establish rapport, while men use it more to convey factual information.
Further, increased competence is seen in the area of adjusting speech and language characteristics to fit work and socially specific
situations.
In older adults, linguistic abilities begin to diminish as a result of the natural aging process. Although this population may have
a large mental lexicon, access to this vocabulary becomes more difficult and many older adults report word retrieval difficulties.
Further, the ability to understand complex linguistic utterances, and the ability to produce complex syntactic forms, decreases. These
linguistic declines are often exacerbated by other physical and health declines that co-occur during the aging process. In fact, it may
be difficult to differentiate between actual linguistic declines and declines in linguistic competence due to physical health compli-
cations. Comprehension of spoken language can be disrupted due to declines in memory and hearing loss can contribute signifi-
cantly to poor comprehension of spoken language. Older adults also may experience declines in the speed at which they can process
linguistic information, which can lead to problems in comprehension.
While these linguistic declines in older age appear to be inevitable, research indicates that staying linguistically active can slow
the decline of linguistic ability. Further, developing strategies such as writing notes as thoughts occur can help with accessing and
using linguistic information.

Language in Special Populations

Given the central role that language plays in both an individual’s development and in his/her integration into a social world depen-
dent on language, the impact of various forms of language impairment is significant. Studying the language behavior of individuals
with language difficulties offers a unique view to our understanding of the key elements needed for language and its development. A
number of congenital disabilities (e.g., autism, cerebral palsy, deafness, mental retardation) may result in language development
that is described as delayed or disordered. Many factors, such as the child’s age at identification, the severity of the disability, the
child’s environment and experiences, all combine and affect the child’s language development.
In the past three decades, substantial progress has been made in creating and delivering services to children with significant
language acquisition difficulties. Advances in computer technology, coupled with strong language teaching models, have resulted
in significant language learning gains. One area of language intervention for individuals with complex communication needs is
augmentative and alternative communication. Augmentative and alternative communication systems are designed to offer another
route for communication by individuals who cannot speak. Alternative output modes, such as the use of voice technology, allow
this interface with the auditory world. Children who use speech output systems, along with proven intervention strategies, can
develop their language skills and use them for communication. Educational and later employment opportunities have also
increased as a direct result of these language and communication gains.

Theories of Language Development

The study of language and language development extends as far back as seventh century B.C. Formal theories concerning language
acquisition, however, have not come into existence until relatively recently. A number of different theories have been put forth to try
to explain language acquisition. For a theory to successfully explain language acquisition, it must not only describe language at
4 Language

different ages, but it must also generate testable hypotheses and put forth and effort to explain how children eventually talk like
adults. These requirements, combined with the complexity of language behavior, have resulted in the failure to develop one theory
that completely explains the nature of language acquisition. As a result, portions of competing theories are often used to explain
language acquisition. Three of the most influential traditional theories are Behavioral Theory, Linguistic Theory, and Cognitive
Developmental Theory.

Behavioral Theory
Behavioral theory has its roots in classical conditioning that was formalized and applied to language development by B.F. Skinner in
the late 1950s. Skinner believed that all behavior, including language, was a learned response. This theory minimized the influence
of mentalistic explanations of language behavior. According to Skinner, behavior was modified or changed through forming asso-
ciations with certain stimuli in the environment. A major tenet of Behavioral theory is operant conditioning which suggests that
likelihood of a behavior occurring is increased or decreased as a result of reward and punishment. Behavioral theory assumed
language was a special case of behavior only because it is a behavior that is reinforced solely by other individuals. As children
are learning language, they try to produce language that is similar to adult language because it is rewarded through praise and
response, while inappropriate language is ignored or corrected.

Linguistic Theory
Linguistic Theory was formed by Noam Chomsky who described language as having a grammar that is largely independent of
language use. Unlike Behavioral Theory, Linguistic Theory argues that language acquisition is governed by universal, underlying
grammatical rules that are common to all typically developing humans. Across many different cultures, there are a number of
linguistic developmental similarities. Chomsky argues that these similarities are due to the presence of an innate language-
acquisition mechanism housed in the brain called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). According to Chomsky, the LAD is
a specialized language processor that contains universal underlying linguistic principles that provide children with the innate
knowledge to speak and learn language. Environment only serves to activate the maturation of the LAD. Chomsky believed that
the only humans were born with the LAD and believed that language was species specific and unique to humans.

Cognitive Developmental Theory

Falling in between the strictly environmental account of language acquisition posed by Behavioral theory and the strictly innate
account posed by Linguistic theory, Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory represents a more interactionist approach to
language development. Though Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory emphasized internal structures as the primary determi-
nants of language acquisition, it was the interaction with the environment that actually shaped the development of language. Unlike
Chomsky, Piaget did not view language as a separate construct. Instead, he believed that language was one of many symbolic func-
tions that resulted from cognitive maturation. Thus, language acquisition was driven by the interaction between the child’s level of
cognitive functioning and the child’s linguistic environment. Piaget argued that a child’s cognitive functioning constrains language
development because language is based on general cognitive functioning and changes in this functioning as a child matures. As
a result, the sequence of linguistic developmental milestones is determined by the sequence of cognitive development.

Sociolinguistic Theory
More contemporary theories of language acquisition emphasize the interactive nature between cognitive and social factors origi-
nally proposed by Piaget. Recent theoretical debates concerning language acquisition no longer fall along lines of biological innate-
ness versus environmental explanations. The debate is now confined to the degree of involvement of these two factors and the
nature of the interaction between them. Sociolinguistic Theory posits that children are born with certain biological capacities
that facilitate language development, but it is the interaction with sensitive linguistic partners that allows the linguistic system to
develop successfully. This theory emphasizes the importance of social interactions, especially early in the language acquisition
process. A key component of this theory is Child-directed speech (CDS). CDS is characterized by simple sentences combined
with exaggerated speech sounds and is representative of how parents interact with infants and young children. Through repeated
interactions, children are able to map meaning onto the linguistic code evidenced in the parents’ speech. Thus, while the child brings
important biological predispositions to the interaction, parents and more skilled linguistic partners provide the types of language
experience necessary for development.

Connectionism
Connectionism is a set of approaches that attempt to represent mental or behavioral phenomena through the use of models that
imitate the neural structures of the brain. It was originally known as Parallel Distributed Processing and emphasizes that informa-
tion processing in the brain occurs on multiple levels at the same time and across a number of different processing mechanisms.
Further, domains like language are not carried out by dedicated, innate and domain-specific neural systems. Rather than being born
 Language 5

with brain structures that are innately specified to produce language, connectionism argues that we are born with certain innate
processing constraints that result in specific areas of the brain being better at processing certain kinds of stimuli. As the brain is
exposed to environmental stimuli (speech for most language learners), those areas that can most efficiently process the information
are activated. Over time, the interaction between these areas in the brain and exposure to linguistic stimuli in the environment leads
to these brain areas becoming specialized for processing linguistic information.
According to Connectionism, there are three types of innate processing constraints. The first are representational constraints. It is
theorized that mental representations are patterns of activations across neurons. The form of these patterns is determined by the
nature of the connection between the units (i.e., synapses). The second type of constraint is architectural constraints. Included in
these constraints are the specific properties of neurons, the circuitry layout of the brain (e.g., the number of layers in the brain,
the density of cells, the degree of interconnectivity), and connections at the larger level between brain areas and regions. The final
constraint suggests that the timing of the development of different brain areas can be important in determining the specialization of
brain regions for specific functions. This is often referred to as critical or sensitive periods in development when specific areas in the
brain develop optimally when exposed to the appropriate environmental stimuli. Connectionism, therefore, uses the term innate to
refer to aspects of brain structure and processing abilities rather than behavioral outcomes that are directly contained in the genetic
code.

The Biological Bases of Language

The uniqueness of the properties of human language has led many researchers to conclude that there is a biological base for
language development. Two primary lines of inquiry that have emerged from this conclusion are the examination of the character-
istics that distinguish human language from animal communication systems and the examination of the relationship between
language and its correlates in the brain.

Animal Communication
When examining animal communication systems it is important to specify what differentiates language from the broader concept of
communication. Debate exists about what specific criteria must be met for a form of communication to be considered language.
Three criteria, however, are generally agreed upon. The first is productivity and represents the ability to make new and unique utter-
ances that have not been heard before. The second is that communication must be symbolic in that it represents objects, ideas, and
events. The final criterion is that the information being communicated does not have to be associated with the current situational
context (i.e., displacement).
One line of research attempting to understand the communication systems of animals is examining the way different animals
communicate under normal circumstances. Early ethologists attempted to study the communication system of insects; in particular
the communication of bees. It was discovered that bees returning to the hive after finding flowers bearing nectar will perform
a “dance” for other bees in the hive. This dance indicates the direction and distance of the flowers. The dance is a recreation of
the route to the flowers and, therefore, is not a symbolic “conversation” and is limited in its conversational topic (i.e., directions
to the flowers). As a result, this dance fails to meet many of the requirements of human language.
Unlike bees, dolphins and birds use vocal calls to communicate intentions. Both birds and dolphins have been found to have
signature calls that identify themselves. Further it has been shown that dolphins can imitate the vocal calls of other dolphins. The
exact purpose of this call matching is unclear but is thought to serve as a way to gain the attention of a certain dolphin in large
groups. Some birds have evidenced a variety of calls that have specific meanings. For example, it has been shown that a bird in
the Crow family has courting calls, calls that initiate flight, and calls signaling to fly home. Again, while these communication
systems resemble human language in many ways, they lack aspects of productivity, symbolism, and displacement.
A second line of research examining animal communication systems involves attempting to teach animals human language.
Research with gray parrots has produced some intriguing results. Gray parrots have demonstrated that they can learn to label objects
with explicit instruction. Further, one gray parrot has shown evidence of learning to recognize objects, colors, and shapes. He even
has been successful at answering questions about these objects, colors, and shapes posed to him with spoken language. Though
these studies suggest that gray parrots are able to learn to symbolically represent ideas, they do not provide evidence that they
can learn in a passive environment or communicate about ideas not in the immediate context.
More promising language-learning research has been carried out with bottlenose dolphins. In particular, a series of experiments
were conducted that involved teaching a dolphin a sign language consisting of gestures produced by a person’s arms and hands.
Using this sign-based system, researchers were able to demonstrate that not only could a dolphin learn that arbitrary signs repre-
sented objects, locations, and actions; but, the dolphin also was able to evidence knowledge of syntactic relations among words. For
example, the dolphin showed the ability to interpret novel sentence constructions by carrying out the given instructions. Further, the
dolphin was able to correctly respond to questions about objects that were both present and absent from the environment. These
results were the first published results to show that a dolphin possessed the ability to understand semantic and syntactic informa-
tion and also demonstrate the ability to communicate about objects that were not present in the current environment.
Research that has shown the most promise in teaching animals human language, however, involves the study of nonhuman
primates like great apes. Early nonhuman primate studies failed because of their effort to teach chimpanzees to speak. Chimpanzees
6 Language

do not have the vocal mechanisms necessary to produce speech. Later primate research focused on teaching apes (i.e., gorillas,
orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos) to produce complex manual signs or use visual-graphic symbols.
Apes who have been taught American Sign Language have demonstrated the ability to learn hundreds of signs and combine
them into meaningful communications. Further, there is evidence that some apes have generalized known words to unfamiliar
objects in their environment (e.g., labeling a dog they have never seen before as a dog). The primary critique of these studies is
that it is unclear whether the apes were able to spontaneously generate communicative signs or whether their signs were due to
prompts from their trainers. Research utilizing visual-graphic symbols as a mode of communication, however, has produced
some convincing evidence that chimpanzees and bonobos are capable of acquiring word meanings and use this visual-graphic
symbol system to communicate with each other and with humans. Currently, the best example of apes demonstrating the capacity
to learn human language comes from research conducted with bonobos. One young male bonobo was found to learn symbols
solely through observation with no direct instruction or external reward. Most striking, however, is that he demonstrated the ability
to understand spoken words and novel word combinations. Subsequent studies with other bonobos have replicated these original
findings and suggest that humans may not be the only species that is capable of spoken language comprehension. Overall, results
from studies with bonobos suggest that they have the ability to learn language skills that are equivalent to a three- or four-year-old
child.
Results from research on animal communication have led to two general conclusions concerning language development. The
first is that although many different species appear to have developed systems that allow them to communicate ideas and concepts,
humans are the only species to develop the complex system of language without specific instruction. The second general conclusion
is that given specific instruction certain animal species have shown the ability to learn some components of language to varying
degrees of competency.

Neurolinguistics
In contrast to the nonhuman animal population, human brains have areas that are specialized for the production and comprehen-
sion of language. The study of the manner and location of the processing of linguistic information in the brain is called neurolin-
guistics. It is estimated that 98% of the human population is left lateralized for language, i.e., language processes are located in the
left hemisphere of the brain. This percentage encompasses almost all right-handed people and 60% of the left-handed population
(only about 10% of the population is left-handed). For most people then, the left side of the brain is responsible for most of the
processing of linguistic information. This does not mean that the right hemisphere is not involved in language processing. For
example, the right hemisphere is responsible for processing the emotional content of speech and is activated when the left hemi-
sphere processing capacity is taxed. In addition to this hemispheric specialization, evidence from autopsies on individuals with
brain insults (e.g., stroke, brain injury) and studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques have identified
specific areas of the brain that are related to specific language behaviors.
For example, Broca’s area is located in the frontal region of the brain near the part of the motor strip that is responsible for
controlling the tongue and lips. This area of the brain is associated with language production and damage to this area results in
Broca’s aphasia. In general, aphasia, refers to the loss of previously acquired language skills because of damage to the brain. There
are different types of aphasia that are based on the location of the brain damage and the skills retained by the individual. Broca’s
aphasia is characterized by naming difficulties, telegraphic speech (i.e., speech that contains only important words), and pronun-
ciation difficulties. Comprehension of language, however, is retained.
Wernicke’s area is found in the posterior temporal lobe and is associated with the comprehension of language. Damage to this
area results in poor comprehension of speech and neologisms (nonsense words) combined with fluent and grammatically correct
speech. Thus, these individuals loose much their ability to communicate with others in an effective manner and become socially
isolated.
While specific areas of the brain have been shown to be related to specific language behaviors, there is debate as to how directly
these brain structures are related to language behavior. It is possible for damage to occur in these language-related areas and result in
no discernable linguistic problems. Additionally, damage to areas of the brain not specifically related to language behavior can
result in linguistic problems. When considering specific brain structures and its relationship to language behavior, it is important
to keep in mind that the brain is a large interconnected network with many cortical and subcortical areas involved in the processing
of linguistic information.

Plasticity
Plasticity refers to the ability of the human brain to change and adapt in response to environmental stimuli. This ability is important
not only for general development, but it is also important for intervening with populations with language disabilities. It was previ-
ously thought that the brain lacked the ability to adapt or change after the onset of puberty and that if language was not acquired by
this event it would never be acquired. While there is evidence that the brain becomes less plastic as we age, these critical periods of
development are now conceptualized as sensitive periods in which there are optimal times during development for key linguistic
skills to develop.
It is estimated that 8%–10% of the school age population evidences some type of developmental language difficulty that can be
considered a language disability. Some of the major causes and patterns of language disabilities include hearing impairment,
 Language 7

intellectual disability autism spectrum disorder, speech and articulation disorders, and reading disabilities. Research across
a number of these areas is consistent in indicating that early intervention efforts are associated with better language development
outcomes. The ability of the brain to change in response to intervention techniques intended to remediate language difficulties is
believed responsible for these positive outcomes. Supporting this belief are studies that use imaging techniques like fMRI to
compare the brains of atypically developing children with their typically developing peers. For example, brain imaging studies con-
ducted with children with reading disabilities have shown that the brain anatomy of these children is different than those of chil-
dren without reading problems. When exposed to a reading intervention, however, the brain structures of these children change to
become similar to children who do not evidence difficulties with learning to read.
Brain plasticity also has been observed in individuals who have acquired language disabilities. Such language impairments may
result from stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), or progressive neurological diseases. As with individuals with congenital language
disabilities, positive outcomes have resulted from intervention and rehabilitation efforts. Individuals who have experienced a stroke
may completely lose the ability to produce speech. Through intensive rehabilitation efforts, many of these individuals learn to speak
again.
The most striking example of brain plasticity, however, comes from individuals who have undergone a complete hemispherec-
tomy. There are rare cases of people who experience numerous epileptic seizures in a day. These repeated seizures are so debilitating
to daily life that it may become necessary to remove an entire hemisphere of the brain to stop the electrical imbalance causing the
seizures. After the removal of the problematic hemisphere, the remaining hemisphere must take over all of the functions previously
served by the removed hemisphere. Even in individuals who are left-lateralized for language who have had the left hemisphere
removed can re-learn and functionally use and understand language.
The concept of plasticity has two important implications for language development. The first implication is that the brain
develops in response to experience with the environment. Thus, the more enriched the linguistic environment a child is exposed
to during language development, the better a child’s later linguistic outcomes. The second implication is that language difficulties
that result because of biological (e.g., developmental disabilities) or environmental (e.g., TBI) reasons can be remediated, at least
partially, through appropriate intervention efforts.

Genetics
Recent research on the genetic makeup of humans has lead to the identification of a specific gene, FOXP2, that appears to be related
to language. This gene is considered necessary for the appropriate development of speech and language and mutations of this gene
has been associated with speech and language impairments. The most common impairment associated with mutations of the
FOXP2 gene is developmental verbal dyspraxia. This impairment is characterized by difficulty initiating speech due to a problem
with coordinating the necessary motor and muscle movements to produce speech. Mutations of the FOXP2 gene also have been
related to difficulties with language comprehension.
Some have labeled the FOXP2 gene as the “language gene.” However, the complexities of acquiring language skills, along with
the clear requirement that infants must be immersed within interactions that give them experience with spoken language, indicate
that a single gene is not solely responsible for the development of language skills. Further, FOXP2 has been linked to physical devel-
opment, such as proper lung development. Results such as these indicate the FOXP2 gene may be related to the development of
a number of areas of development not related to language.
Many recent research studies have examined whether a link exists between the FOXP2 gene and autism. Research in this area has
produced mixed results. Some studies have shown a positive link while others have concluded no link exists. Currently, no firm
conclusions can be made concerning whether the FOXP2 gene plays a role in the development of autism. Recent research that
studies language and reading disorders has focused on identifying other candidate genes and suggests a possible multiple gene
model to explain the problems seen in those disorders.

Conclusions

In conclusion, language and its development is a highly complex process that continues to develop and unfold throughout the life-
span. Our understanding and knowledge of the biological bases of language and its lifelong developmental phases continues to
increase. The use of sophisticated methodologies and cutting edge techniques has yielded important sources of information about
language behavior, its origins, development, and use. Future scientific research will continue to explore, and explain, the intricate
processes of human language acquisition.

Further Reading

Berko-Gleason, J., Ratner, N.B., 2016. The development of language, 9th ed. Pearson, Boston.
Elman, J., Bates, E., Johnson, M., Karmiloff Smith, A., Parisi, D., Plunkett, K., 1998. Rethinking innateness. A connectionist perspective on development. MIT, Cambridge, MA.
Savage-Rumbaugh, E.S., Murphy, J., Sevcik, R.A., Brakke, K., Williams, S., Rumbaugh, D.M., 1993. Language comprehension in ape and child. Monographs of the Society for
Research in Child Development, Serial No. 233, 58, 3–4.