Despite numerous aphasia and functional imaging studies, the exact correlation between cortical language areas and subcomponents of the linguistic system has not been established. Here, we used functional MRI to identify cortical areas specifically involved in syntactic processing. An experimental design contrasted sentences containing grammatical errors with sentences containing spelling errors. The ungrammatical sentences produced more activation in cortical language areas than did the sentences with spelling errors, and the difference in activation was significantly greater in Broca's area than in Wernicke's area or in the angular gyrus͞supramarginal gyrus. The present findings provide direct evidence of a syntactic specialization for Broca's area and establish the existence of distinct modules for our knowledge of language. L inguistic theory divides human linguistic ability into distinct modules responsible for distinct aspects of our knowledge of language. For instance, the syntactic component governs the hierarchical organization of words and phrases in sentences, whereas the phonological component is responsible for the sound structure of a language. The identification of specialized cortical areas responsible for these distinct aspects of linguistic competence is a first step toward understanding how language is instantiated in the brain. This study uses functional MRI (fMRI) to identify cortical areas involved specifically in syntactic processing. The focus is on the role of Broca's area in syntax, an issue that has been debated from a number of different perspectives.Event-related brain potential (ERP) studies have identified a component, the P600, which correlates with a subject's recognition of syntactic ill formedness (1). However, the language specificity of this component has been challenged (2), and the specific cortical generator of the component has not been localized. A second component, the left anterior negativity, has also been associated with error detection in grammatical processing (3, 4); its source is once again unclear, but its detection by left-anterior electrodes is suggestive of the involvement of Broca's area. In the imaging literature, activation in Broca's area has been found for some linguistic tasks, whereas other studies have argued for the involvement of Broca's area in decidedly nonsyntactic tasks, such as in the phonological processing of words or letters (5). Two prior imaging studies by Stromswold et al. (6) and Just et al. (7) have studied syntactic complexity and made specific claims about Broca's area. In these studies, increased sentential complexity correlates with an increase in activity in Broca's area. Activity in Broca's area in these experiments either may stem from the fact that Broca's area is specifically involved in syntactic processing or may reflect a general increase in demands on the linguistic system or on verbal short-term memory rather than syntactic processing per se. Just et al. (7), noting an increase in activated voxels in both Broca's and Wer...

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This paper reports on a pilot project that explored the potential of linguistic inquiry in a high school English as a Second Language (ESL) class. In class meetings across the school year, students worked collaboratively to investigate noun phrase pluralization, language acquisition, writing systems, and translation in their own and other languages. Classroom observations and students’ oral and written work provide evidence that: Examining the structures of the spoken and written languages represented in the ESL classroom captures students’ interest and engages them in critical inquiry about the nature of linguistic knowledge and their beliefs about language. The cross‐linguistic analysis of students’ home languages validates their languages in the school context, defining them as a rich resource worthy of study, rather than as a hindrance to education. These findings are of particular significance in this time of English‐only education in the United States, when students’ home languages are often rejected in schools.

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