biolinguistics (n.)

A developing branch of LINGUISTICS which studies the biological preconditions for language development and use in human beings, from the viewpoints of both the history of language in the race, and the development of language in the individual. It is also known as biological linguistics. Topics of common interest to the two subject-areas involved include the genetic transmission of language, neurophysiological models of language production, the anatomical parallels between human and other species, and the development of pathological forms of language behavior. In recent years, Chomsky has called his entire GENERATIVE grammar an exercise in biolinguistics, claiming that it is possible to ask a question beyond explanatory ADEQUACY: how did the language faculty evolve in the human species?