Might language be telepathy?
- V. 19, N. 2 (2020)
- Submitted: May 13, 2020
- Published: Jul 16, 2020
- DOI 10.25189/rabralin.v19i2.1428
Abstract
Seeking to decipher the process of understanding and producing language, Fedorenko reports three discoveries made by her laboratory during the last decade, achieved through behavioral, computational and brain imaging methodologies. First, Fedorenko proposes that regions that support the language are selective only to it. She then argues that regions that support syntactic processing are the same ones that support semantic processing. Finally, Fedorenko suggests that the primary driver for activation in the language region is semantic composition and not syntax, as the literature had been indicating: if a syntactically messed up input provides sufficient evidence for the semantic composition, the language network maximum response is achieved. Thus, syntactic properties could be constrained by communicative pressures. She concludes that, interpreted together, these results point to a strong integration between lexicon and syntax, approaching theoretical models such as construction and usage-based grammars.
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