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Review
. 2025 Aug;26(3):719-736.
doi: 10.1007/s10339-025-01262-z. Epub 2025 Feb 25.

The cognitive science of language diversity: achievements and challenges

Antonio Benítez-Burraco  1
Affiliations
Review

The cognitive science of language diversity: achievements and challenges

Antonio Benítez-Burraco. Cogn Process. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Linguistics needs to embrace all the way down a key feature of language: its diversity. In this paper, we build on recent experimental findings and theoretical discussions about the neuroscience and the cognitive science of linguistic variation, but also on proposals by theoretical biology, to advance some future directions for a more solid neurocognitive approach to language diversity. We argue that the cognitive foundations and the neuroscience of human language will be better understood if we pursue a unitary explanation of four key dimensions of linguistic variation: the different functions performed by language, the diversity of sociolinguistic phenomena, the typological differences between human languages, and the diverse developmental paths to language. Succeeding in the cognitive and neurobiological examination and explanation of these four dimensions will not only result in a more comprehensive understanding of how our brain processes language, but also of how language evolved and the core properties of human language(s).

Keywords: Developmental paths to language; Language typology; Multifunctionality of language; Neurodiversity; Non-WEIRD societies/subjects; Sociolinguistic diversity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The author has no conflicts of interest to declare. Statement of ethics: The research conducted for the paper relied on previously published data by others and available datasets, hence no ethics approval was required. Geolocation: Seville, Spain, Europe.

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