THE FOXP2 GENE: AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN LANGUAGE DEFICITS FROM A GENETIC PERSPECTIVE

BY
Leidy Marcela Chacón Vargas 

It is clearly observable the increasing interdisciplinary relationship between linguistics and many other areas like genetics in their unfinished effort to decipher the language process development in our brain. In that sense, it has been stated that a gene called “FOXP2” could have implications in the acquisition of the human’s oral language. This possibility is based on the mutation process that the gene involves. This statement is supported by Marcus & Fisher, (2003: 258) when they claim, “it involves multiple associated deficits including articulation difficulties, language problems, and grammatical impairment”. However, here a question emerges, is it possible that a unique gene can be responsible for such circumstances?

Research and various revisions towards this topic have shown that there are specific areas in the brain in charge of different language skills such as the Boca’s area. At the same time contemporary theorists like Pinker,  establishes, “Parece suficientemente demostrada la existencia en el cerebro de zonas específicas en las que se asienta el lenguaje, incluso, las últimas investigaciones parecen apuntar a la posibilidad de regiones dedicadas a procesar información tan específica como los sintagmas nominales o las estructuras métricas” (1994: 344).

What has been previously stated draws our attention to the gene FOXP2 and its abnormal mutation in the brain regions related to the linguistic development and its influence in the activities of the cerebellum which also include motricity.  These notions could open a door to address the language acquisition process through a different perspective that allows linguists, neurologists, doctors, teachers and patients understand what is going on in our brain and find strategies to face and treat such amount of disabilities that certainly affect people and their right to assimilate and experience the world. In spite of the fact that there is still a lack of investigation in this field where the gene FOXP2 is not completely considered as the “Language Gene”, it is surely part of a chain of genes that influences how the language progress in one way or another. 

REFERENCES

Marcus, G. F. and Fisher, S. E. 2003. FOXP2 in focus: what can genes tell us about speech and language? TRENDS in Cognitive sciences Vol. 7 No. 6 257-262.

Pinker, S. (1994). El instinto del lenguaje: cómo crea el lenguaje la mente. Madrid: Alianza