Department of Spanish, Linguistics and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
Linguistics Program, Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021 May 10;376(1824):20200188. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0188. Epub 2021 Mar 22.
We demonstrate how two linguistic phenomena, figurative language (implicating cross-modality) and derogatory language (implicating aggression), both demand a precise degree of (dis)inhibition in the same cortico-subcortical brain circuits, in particular cortico-striatal networks, whose connectivity has been significantly enhanced in recent evolution. We examine four cognitive disorders/conditions that exhibit abnormal patterns of (dis)inhibition in these networks: schizophrenia (SZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), synaesthesia and Tourette's syndrome (TS), with the goal of understanding why the two phenomena altered reactive aggression and altered cross-modality cluster together in these disorders. Our proposal is that enhanced cross-modality (necessary to support language, in particular metaphoricity) was a result, partly a side-effect, of self-domestication (SD). SD targeted the taming of reactive aggression, but reactive impulses are controlled by the same cortico-subcortical networks that are implicated in cross-modality. We further add that this biological process of SD did not act alone, but was engaged in an intense feedback loop with the cultural emergence of early forms of language/grammar, whose high degree of raw metaphoricity and verbal aggression also contributed to increased brain connectivity and cortical control. Consequently, in conjunction with linguistic expressions serving as approximations/'fossils' of the earliest stages of language, these cognitive disorders/conditions serve as confident proxies of brain changes in language evolution, helping us reconstruct certain crucial aspects of early prehistoric languages and cognition, as well as shed new light on the nature of the disorders. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.
我们展示了两种语言现象，即比喻语言（暗示跨模态）和贬损语言（暗示攻击性），它们都需要在相同的皮质-基底神经节大脑回路中（尤其是皮质-纹状体网络）具有精确程度的（抑制）抑制，而这些回路的连通性在最近的进化中得到了显著增强。我们研究了四种认知障碍/病症，这些障碍/病症在这些网络中表现出异常的（抑制）抑制模式：精神分裂症（SZ）、自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）、联觉和妥瑞氏症（TS），目的是理解为什么这两种现象改变了反应性攻击和改变的跨模态集群在一起在这些疾病中。我们的提议是，增强的跨模态性（支持语言，特别是隐喻性的必要条件）是自我驯化（SD）的结果，部分是副作用。SD 针对的是反应性攻击性的驯服，但反应性冲动是由涉及跨模态的相同皮质-基底神经节网络控制的。我们进一步补充说，这种自我驯化的生物过程并非单独作用，而是与早期语言/语法形式的文化出现紧密地相互作用，其高度的原始隐喻性和言语攻击性也促进了大脑连通性和皮质控制的增加。因此，与作为语言早期阶段的近似值/“化石”的语言表达相结合，这些认知障碍/病症作为语言进化中大脑变化的可靠替代物，帮助我们重建史前语言和认知的某些关键方面，并为这些障碍的性质提供新的见解。本文是主题为“重建史前语言”的专刊的一部分。
