Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain

The Subcortical Bases of Speech, Syntax, and Thought

Philip Lieberman

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780674040229
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Neuroscience
• Index: Biological Sciences

This book is an entry into the fierce current debate among psycholinguists, neuroscientists, and evolutionary theorists about the nature and origins of human language. A prominent neuroscientist here takes up the Darwinian case, using data seldom considered by psycholinguists and neurolinguists to argue that human language--though more sophisticated than all other forms of animal communication--is not a qualitatively different ability from all forms of animal communication, does not require a quantum evolutionary leap to explain it, and is not unified in a single "language instinct."Using clinical evidence from speech-impaired patients, functional neuroimaging, and evolutionary biology to make his case, Philip Lieberman contends that human language is not a single separate module but a functional neurological system made up of many separate abilities. Language remains as it began, Lieberman argues: a device for coping with the world. But in a blow to human narcissism, he makes the case that this most remarkable human ability is a by-product of our remote reptilian ancestors' abilities to dodge hazards, seize opportunities, and live to see another day.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Functional Neural Systems
• 2. Speech Production and Perception
• 3. The Lexicon and Working Memory
• 4. The Subcortical Basal Ganglia
• 5. The Evolution of the Functional Language System
• 6. Commentary
• Notes
• References
• Index