Four years ago, a finding that defects in a single gene could severely impair language set off a race to learn what the gene, FOXP2, could reveal about language's neural basis.1 After the gene was made known through studies of the so-called KE family, half of whom had the defect and could barely speak, analyses showed that gene expression corresponded in surprising ways with development in language-linked brain areas.
Other enticing clues emerged. The human version of the gene differs by just a few base pairs from that of chimps.2 More recently still, researchers found that FoxP2-knockout mice are unable to produce certain vocalizations,3 suggesting to some that the gene holds a primal place in the development of communication. But results are as puzzling as they are beguiling, dredging up debates about the nature of language and the ability of a single gene to affect it so greatly. Molecular studies ...
