Language disorders
through the lens of biolinguistics

INVITED TALK 1Antonio Benítez Burraco
Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theoryof Literature (Linguistics)

University of Seville (Spain)

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HOW I HAVE STRUCTURED MY TALK
1. Introduction

2. Clinical linguistics: struggling with symptoms and causes
3. Bridging genes to language (and vice versa)
4. Putting the focus on brain oscillations
5. Conclusions and future prospects

KEIO/1HOW I HAVE STRUCTURED MY TALK
1. Introduction

2. Clinical linguistics: struggling with symptoms and causes
3. Bridging genes to language (and vice versa)
4. Putting the focus on brain oscillations
5. Conclusions and future prospects

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1. Description
2. Diagnosis

3. Etiology
4. Research
5. Therapy

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BCD

KEIO/1ACB
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ADHD

Cerebellar dysfunction
Deficit in the capacity
for processing (anddiscriminating among)
sensorial impulses ofacoustic nature whichquickly follow one
anotherDyslexia

AutismDeficit in auditory
temporal processing

SLI

Morphosyntactic
deficit

Deficit in the capacityfor visual processing
Dysfunction of themagnocellular pathway

Deficit of the phonologicalprocessing capacity/phonological(short-term) memory

SSD
Rolandic epilpesy (BCECTS)

comorbid disorders
underlying deficit

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KEIO/1“To understand developmental outcomes, it is vital toidentify full developmental trajectories, to assess
how progressive change occurs from infancy
onwards, and how parts of the developing system
may interact with other parts differently atdifferent times across ontogenesis”
Karmiloff-Smith (2009: 58)

KEIO/1“To understand developmental outcomes, it is vital toidentify full developmental trajectories, to assess
how progressive change occurs from infancy
onwards, and how parts of the developing system
may interact with other parts differently atdifferent times across ontogenesis”
Karmiloff-Smith (2009: 58)➔ Disordered systems are adaptative  compensations

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ACBD

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Ontological Incommensurability Problem (OIP):
The units of linguistic computation and the units ofneurological computation are incommensurable = theformer cannot be reduced or matched up with the latter

principled
relationships

Independentdevelopment

arbitrary relationships

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B
D

KEIO/1• polygenism• polimorphism  neurotypical population• variable penetrance• phenocopy• pleiotropy• different partners ➔ different disorders

KEIO/1“Classical” candidates for dyslexia

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CNTNAP2 as a
candidate for dyslexia

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CNTNAP2 as a
candidate for dyslexia

KEIO/1CNTNAP2 as acandidate for dyslexia

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KEIO/1ACB
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HOW I HAVE STRUCTURED MY TALK
1. Introduction

2. Clinical linguistics: struggling with symptoms and causes
3. Bridging genes to language (and vice versa)
4. Putting the focus on brain oscillations
5. Conclusions and future prospects

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If a linguistic analysis is correct,
it identifies
computations/representations
that are computed [in real time]in the minds/brains of speakers

KEIO/1“To understand any developmental syndrome, it isessential to distinguish between the behavioral
phenotype (based on scores from standardized testsof overt behavior) and the cognitive phenotype(based on in-depth analyses of the mental processes
underlying the overt behavior)”
Karmiloff-Smith (2008: 693)

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Distill language (and linguistic theory) into a set ofcomputational and representational primitives!

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KEIO/1Molecular biology

Clinical linguisticsKEIO/1

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1. There are less disorders than causes of disorders

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1. There are less disorders than causes of disorders

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2. The variability exhibited by neurodiverse people isgreater than the variability observed in neurotypical subjects

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3. Breakdowns and compensations never occur randomly some aspects of language are particularly vulnerable
 some aspects of language are particularly resistant todamage

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1. There are less disorders than causes of disorders
2. The variability exhibited by neurodiverse people isgreater than the variability observed in neurotypical subjects

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1. There are less disorders than causes of disorders
2. The variability exhibited by neurodiverse people isgreater than the variability observed in neurotypical subjects

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1. There are less disorders than causes of disorders
2. The variability exhibited by neurodiverse people isgreater than the variability observed in neurotypical subjects

3. Breakdowns and compensations never occur randomly
RobustEvolvable

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1. There are less disorders than causes of disorders
2. The variability exhibited by neurodiverse people isgreater than the variability observed in neurotypical subjects

3. Breakdowns and compensations never occur randomly

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KEIO/1• demography• DNA• culture

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HOW I HAVE STRUCTURED MY TALK
1. Introduction

2. Clinical linguistics: struggling with symptoms and causes
3. Bridging genes to language (and vice versa)
4. Putting the focus on brain oscillations
5. Conclusions and future prospects

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 Brain rhythms are primitive components ofbrain functionKEIO/1
 Brain rhythms are primitive components ofbrain function
 (Ideally) They allow to understand (not just tomap) the brain specialization for language

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 Brain rhythms are primitive components ofbrain function
 (Ideally) They allow to understand (not just tomap) the brain specialization for language

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 Brain rhythms are primitive components ofbrain function
 (Ideally) They allow to understand (not just tomap) the brain specialization for language
 They connect to:- Aspects of human biology conserved acrossspecies

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 Brain rhythms are primitive components ofbrain function
 (Ideally) They allow to understand (not just tomap) the brain specialization for language
 They connect to:- Aspects of human biology conserved acrossspeciesKEIO/1
 Brain rhythms are primitive components ofbrain function
 (Ideally) They allow to understand (not just tomap) the brain specialization for language
 They connect to :- Aspects of human biology conserved acrossspecies- Aspects of human biology known to vary
within the species

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GRIN2AKEIO/1

KEIO/1- dysarthria- dyspraxia- dysphasia- aphasia / language regression- phonological problems- moderate-to-severe receptive
language impairment

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Problems with structural aspects of language- phonological problems- morphosyntactic problems▪ clitics▪ relative clauses▪ wh-questions▪ passives▪ embedded clauses
Problems with pragmatics- difficulties for understanding non-literal language- atypical conversational exchanges

KEIO/1- impaired semantic knowledge and sematic integration
during sentence processing- greater reliance on auditory/phonological cues + reduced
reliance on semantics during word learning- deficit in phonological processing

KEIO/1- increased variability- delays, asynchronies, and/or deviances

KEIO/1- altered Mental Time Travel abilities-

impaired capacity for cross-modal thinking- altered Theory of Mind
- increased reliance on rules

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KEIO/1OSCILLATORY CLINICAL LINGUISTICS

Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

KEIO/1OSCILLATORY CLINICAL LINGUISTICS

Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

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Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

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OSCILLATORY CLINICAL LINGUISTICS

Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

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Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

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Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

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Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

OSCILLATORY CLINICAL LINGUISTICS

Language deficits

Neurobiology

Genetics

Molecularbiology

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HOW I HAVE STRUCTURED MY TALK
1. Introduction

2. Clinical linguistics: struggling with symptoms and causes
3. Bridging genes to language (and vice versa)
4. Putting the focus on brain oscillations
5. Conclusions and future prospects

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Thanks a lot for your attention!

e-mail:web:

Dr. Antonio Benítez Burraco
Full profesor of LinguisticsÁrea de Lingüística General. Departamento de Lengua
Española, Lingüística y Teoría de la Literatura. Facultad deFilología.
Universidad de Sevillaabenitez8@us.es

http://antoniobenitez.wix.com/benitez-burraco

Twitter: @abenitezburraco
Principal Investigator. Research Project: "La evolución
de las lenguas modernas: fundamentos
genéticos y sociológicos del continuo lingüísticoesotérico-exotérico” (PID2020-114516GB-I00))
Principal Investigator. Research Group “Biolingüística” (HUM 972)(Junta de Andalucía, spain)