A Blueprint for a Brain Map of Syntax

This chapter begins with a short review of two current methods for the study of brain language relations. It moves on to syntactic deficits in Broca's aphasia, which is argued to be restricted to syntactic movement (aka grammatical transformations). It then reviews the current experimental record in neuroimaging of the healthy brain in Broca's region and seeks convergence with the aphasia results. It considers two recent findings that have located certain intrasentential dependency relations in different portions of the right hemisphere. These results drive the conclusion that a rough brain map for syntax may be within reach. Finally, the chapter proposes dimensions along which the syntacto-topic conjecture (STC) may be explored by examining how visual maps are currently investigated.