more general cognitive system. The counterargument is that there appears to be something ‘special’ about human language. This is usually supported by evidence such as all attempts to teach animals human languages to any great success have failed (Hauser et al. 2003) and that language can be selectively damaged (a single dissociation) suggesting proprietary computation may be required. Instead of postulating 'pure' modularity, theorists have opted for a weaker version, domain-specificity implemented in functionally specialised neural circuits and computation (e.g. Jackendoff and Pinker’s words, we must investigate language "not as a monolith but as a combination of components, some special to language, others rooted in more general capacities"). See also Language center Motor theory of speech perception Noam Chomsky References Further reading Altmann, G. T. M. (2001). The mechanics of language: Psycholinguistics in review. The British Journal of Psychology, 92, 129–170. Bauer, R. M., & Zawacki, T. (2000). Auditory Agnosia and Amusia. In M.J. Farah and T.E. Feinberg (Eds.), Patient-Based Approaches to Cognitive Neuroscience, (pp. 97–106). New York: McGraw-Hill. Breedin, S. D., & Saffran, E. M. (1999). Sentence processing in the face of semantic loss: A case study. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 128, 547–62. Breedin, S. D., Saffran, E. M., & Coslett, H. B. (1999). Reversal of the concreteness effect in a patient with semantic dementia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 11, 617–60. Colledge, E., Bishop, D., Koeppen-Schomerus, G., Price, T., Happe, F., Eley, T., Dale, P. S., & Plomin, R. (2002). The structure of language abilities at 4 years: A twin study. Developmental Psychology, 38, 749–757. Dapretto, M., & Bookheimer, S. Y. (1999). Form and content: Dissociating syntax and semantics in sentence comprehension. Neuron, 24, 427–32. Garrard, P., Carroll, E., Vinson, D. P., & Vigliocco, G. (2004). Dissociating lexico-semantics and lexico-syntax in semantic dementia. Neurocase, 10, 353–362. Grafman, J., Passafiume, D., Faglioni, P., & Boller, F. (1982) Calculation disturbances in adults with focal hemispheric damage. Cortex, 18, 37–50. Griffiths T. D., Rees, A., & Green, G. G. R. (1999). Disorders of human complex sound processing. Neurocase, 5, 365–378 Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, W. T. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how does it evolve? Science, 298, 1569–1579. Hickok, G., & Poeppel, D. (2000). Towards a functional neuroanatomy of speech perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4 (4), 131–138. Hill, E. L. (2001). Non-specific nature of specific language impairment: A review of the literature