Locality in Language and Locality in Brain Oscillatory Structures

Abstract

From the perspective of brain oscillations, an explanation is offered as to why external systems of language cannot deal with identical categorial elements in certain local domains. An equivalent locality effect in brain structure is argued for which causes a (cognitively problematic and ambiguous) synchronization of rhythms in the gamma, beta1, and beta2 bands. These rhythms can be related to different categories, and their limited patterns and interactions may explain syntactic constraints on phrases, phases, and Internal Merge.