Linguistics is the study of language. Language is a system of brain circuits. To qualify the latter statement, one may cite the father of modern linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure, who claimed that language (i.e., the language system, or langue) is a “concrete natural object seated in the brain” (de Saussure, 1916). If linguistics is the study of language and language is in one sense a system of brain circuits, one would expect linguists to be open to the study of brain circuits. However, the dominating view in linguistics appears to be that language theories must be formulated in an abstract manner, not in terms of neuron circuits. Section 14.1 asks why linguists favor abstract rather than neuron-based formulations of language mechanisms. Section 14.2 discusses a few thoughts about how an abstract theory of language may profit from a brain basis.

Why Are Linguistic Theories Abstract?

As mentioned, the dominating view in linguistics is that language theories must be formulated in an abstract way. This could be a trivial claim because it is clear that every scientific theory must include abstract concepts. However, this is not the point. The point is that abstract in this context excludes explicit reference to the organic basis of the processes described in an abstract fashion. Linguistic theory is abstract in the sense that it does not refer to neurons. Why is this so?