Language can be seen as a universal biological capacity common to every individual, but can also be considered as a cultural element that would have evolved in relation to different external, environmental factors. It is interesting to examine the aspect of language that links it to a biological predisposition of man to use and understand it.  

There are some clear genetic factors essential to the understanding of the origins of language. Although a little simplistic, a first element to consider would be a human morphological predisposition to language. Indeed, the sounds of language seem closely related to the morphology of the vocal tract: certain characteristics of a human face seem to have a decisive influence upon speech sounds. Simple elements such as the shape of the mouth and lips can be related to the development of language in man, or at least seem to be prerequisite for speech articulation, and oral motivity in man. 

 


Biological Foundations of the Language 

Human being is the only living being on the earth to have a highly developed language system, which no other creatures possess. To understand this extraordinary capacity of linguistic behavior, we have to find out the way human differs from the rest of the animal kingdom, in terms of the evolutionary aspect. 

 

Structure of the Human Brain 

It can be divided into three constituents, among which the most fundamental one is popularly known as the reptilian brain. Out of this reptilian brain evolves the mammalian brain. After that the deposition of the grey matter, popularly known as the neocortex, ultimately transformed it into the human brain. This neocortex is divided into different hemispheres, popularly known as the left and the right hemispheres. 

 

Human Brain 

The mammalian brain became the human brain by adding the massive grey matter (neocortex) which envelopes most of the earlier brain and amounts to about 85 per cent of the human brain mass. 

The brain is actually divided into its 'hemispheres' by a prominent groove. At the base of this groove lies the thick bundle of nerve fibers which enable these two halves of the brain to communicate with each other. 

A general overview of the functional division of activities between the two hemispheres would be: 

 

Left Hemisphere  

Communicates by using words, has highly developed verbal abilities, is logical and systematic, concerned with matters as they are.  

 

Right Hemisphere  

Communicates using images (pictures), has highly developed spatial abilities, is intuitive and imaginative, concerned with emotions and feelings. 

 

Evolutionary Aspect of Brain and Language:  

Brain and language both are subject to the evolution. Evolution is, as Darwin recognized, a complex process that inherently involves all aspects of the life cycle and environment of the species and its relationships to other species. Everything depends on everything else, and the interaction through natural selection is the crucial factor if any thing is. A Darwinian approach to the study of language of course involves more than the application of the theory of the natural selection. We will, for example, make use of the principle of pre-adaptation, that is, natural selection channelling development in a new direction because of previous modifications for some other role. This principle is extremely important, for it demonstrates how natural selection operating in small steps can effect radical changes in behaviour.  

Therefore in case of language, same thing can be referred to. From some of the present day experiments it can be clearly deduced that the principle of pre-adaptation, works an important role even in the work of the linguists. They are referring to the fact that there is a biologically determined language acquisition device, acquired in course of evolution, which plays a crucial role 

in case of the language acquisition. This theory of innateness is nothing but the resonance of the same principle of preadaptation.  

Moreover it is found that even a pre-linguistic child has the capacity to make a differentiation between voiced and voiceless bilabial sounds at the time of sucking. The rate of sucking gets higher when (s)he is exposed to the voiced bilabial sounds, in comparison to there non-voiced counterparts. This type of prelinguistic ability is basically acquired by the human being by the course of evolution. And this ability, by and large, is universal through out the different cultures. Even in case of the deaf child, it is found that the pattern of babbling is quite same as that of the normal child, in the pre-linguistic period. The difference originates only in the level of the verbal child, which is specific to the culture. Therefore the notion of language essentially incorporates two levels of discussion- one, the pre-linguistics evidences shows that the existence of a universal pre-adaptive principle, which can be equated with the concept of the innateness hypothesis and two, in course of development, the child acquires the language specific particular grammar, which is channelized to a particular direction because of the pre-adaptive innate principle. 

 

Biological basis of language: Selectivist vs. Constructivist 

The question to explore is whether there is biological foundation at the root of organization and internal structure of language.  

The scholars considering spoken language acquisition have divided over internal and external causation dichotomy. Two prototypical models of language acquisition are "selectivist" and "constructivist" models, respectively. The selectivist model, which depends on internal causation argument, can be associated with Noam Chomsky. The selectivist model assumes that "language template is pre-organized in the neuronal structure of the brain, so that the fact of being an integral part of a given environment selects the borders of each individual neuronal structure, without affecting its fine organization, which pre-exists". The constructivist model, which assumes external causation of language acquisition, follows lines drawn by behaviorists such as Piaget and Skinner. This model assumes that "language is built up constantly from a continuous interaction with a well-structured environment". 

 

Biolinguistics vs. Connectionist approach:  

Biolinguistics approach involves the study of questions concerning (1) language, (2) language development, and (3) language evolution. It is explicitly considered to the study of the biology of language. The connectionist approach is radically different, as is explained in Rethinking Innateness. The main query is how seriously one should take biological constraints.  

Connectionist approach is concerned with intelligent behavior in general. It includes organically based intelligence (human language, basket weaving, nest building, etc.) as well as silicon based intelligence (chess playing computers, computers that recognize speech etc.). Thus connectionists are interested in general-purpose learning algorithms that work across domains and across organisms, whether based on DNA or on silicon.