The Mystery of Language

The development of language, from generation of affective sounds to babblingand production of first words and phrases, resembles rather the unfolding ofan innate disposition. Babies absorb the statistics of language in their first 10months of life through their innate auditory magnet. The core neural structuresinvolved in speech of young children and vocalization of monkeys and apes areidentical. The integration of the Mid-Cingulate Cortex (MCC) harbouring therostral and caudal Cingulate Motor Areas (CMAs) and the presupplementarymotor area-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA-SMA) in man has enabled thesequencing and articulation of speech. In 3-4 year olds, the syntactic-semanticprocessing of sentences is initially implemented undifferentiated in an areain the left posterior Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG)/middle STG. In 9 to 10 yearolds, the hemodynamic activity underlying syntax processing shifts into the leftIFG.