Language, meaning, and localization: Last year s words, next year s words

Abstract

Neurologic practice is deeply rooted in the ideal of localization. Some would argue that neurology arose in the mid-18th century from the study of language localization, regarded as a uniquely human function. The classic aphasias, those described by Broca and Wernicke, were believed to represent exemplars of lesion-symptom mapping, but many features of language-onset dementias went unexplained by conventional aphasiology.² The description of aphasia syndromes in neurodegenerative diseases has largely overturned the static conceptualization of a brain language postcode.³ While incremental and cumulative, these neural network–based conceptual changes have proven critical for elucidating the ne..