ArticleFrontiers in psychology2018
Diversity of Grammars and Their Diverging Evolutionary and Processing Paths: Evidence From Functional MRI Study of Serbian.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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7 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Survival of the wittiest (not friendliest): The art and science behind human linguistic and cognitive evolution.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- The cognitive science of language diversity: achievements and challenges.Cognitive processing · 2025Review
- Corticostriatal Regulation of Language Functions.Neuropsychology review · 2021Review
- Differentiation Between Agents and Patients in the Putative Two-Word Stage of Language Evolution.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- From Physical Aggression to Verbal Behavior: Language Evolution and Self-Domestication Feedback Loop.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- Minimalism in the Light of Biology: What to Retain and What to Discard?Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
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Abstract
We address the puzzle of "unity in diversity" in human languages by advocating the (minimal) common denominator for the diverse expressions of transitivity across human languages, consistent with the view that early in language evolution there was a modest beginning for syntax and that this beginning provided the foundation for the further elaboration of syntactic complexity. This study reports the results of a functional MRI experiment investigating differential patterns of brain activation during processing of sentences with minimal versus fuller syntactic structures. These structural layers have been postulated to represent different stages in the evolution of syntax, potentially engaging different brain networks. We focused on the Serbian "middles," analyzed as lacking the transitivity (vP) layer, contrasted with matched transitives, containing the transitivity layer. Our main hypothesis was that transitives will produce more activation in the syntactic (Broca's-Basal Ganglia) brain network, in comparison to more rudimentary middles. The participants (
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