As a naive, young student in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I wondered whether we might ever understand the relation between the algorithmic descriptions provided by linguistic theorizing and the way in which language is wired in the brain. It would seem that 30 years later there is some hope to learn something about this with all those new FMRIs and EEGs techniques, so trendy now adays. But I am rather skeptical. If we do not understand how the swiss replica watches simple brain of an insect maps onto behavior, what can we expect to learn about the human brain and that complex object called “language”? This is not to say that this question is not worth pursuing, it is just to say that I do not think we have learned much regarding the above question—other than that the contention that language is entirely located on the left hemisphere is wrong. And breakthrough in this area is probably far away in the future.

The other question that I wondered and still wonder about it is how do humans learn language, or more narrowly, how do humans acquire such complex and subtle grammatical intuitions? I do think we have made some (humble) progress in this area and I expect that we will learn much more about this in the decades ahead. Yet, it is a research area of much controversy, as you know. I think it would be very good to have a debate panel that directly addresses that controversy, in a detailed and meaningful way.

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