How is language organized in the human brain? The Neuroscience of Language, published in 2003, puts forth a systematic model of language to bridge the gap between linguistics and neuroscience. Neuronal models of word and serial order processing are presented in the form of a computational, connectionist neural network. The linguistic emphasis is on words and elementary syntactic rules. Introductory chapters focus on neuronal structure and function, cognitive brain processes, the basics of classical aphasia research and modern neuroimaging of language, neural network approaches to language, and the basics of syntactic theories. The essence of the work is contained in chapters on neural algorithms and networks, basic syntax, serial order mechanisms, and neuronal grammar. Throughout, excursuses illustrate the functioning of brain models of language, some of which are accessible as animations on the book's accompanying web site. It will appeal to graduate students and researchers in neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, and computational modeling.

Table of Contents

1 A Guide to the Book

2 Neuronal Structure and Function

3 From Classic Aphasia Research to Modern Neuroimaging

4 Words in the Brain

Excursus E1: Explaining Neuropsychological Double Dissociations

5 Regulation, Overlap, and Web Tails

6 Neural Algorithms and Neural Networks

7 Basic Syntax

8 Synfire Chains as the Basis of Serial Order in the Brain

9 Sequence Detectors

10 Neuronal Grammar

11 Neuronal Grammar and Algorithms

Excursus E2: Basic Bits of Neuronal Grammar

Excursus E3: A Web Response to a Sentence

12 Refining Neuronal Grammar

Excursus E4: Multiple Reverberation for Resolving

Lexical Ambiguity

Excursus E5: Multiple Reverberations and Multiple Center Embeddings

13 Neurophysiology of Syntax

14 Linguistics and the Brain