Language gene pinpointed

Scientists have identified a gene that plays a crucial role in human language and speech.

A study focused on a rare speech disorder known to affect only 16 people worldwide, 15 of them in one family. "It is the first gene ever implicated in a speech and language disorder and it is an entry point for understanding the developmental process that culminates in speech and language," said Anthony Monaco, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University.

Mr Monaco and his colleagues studied a specific linguistic impairment that affects a large British family. The disorder includes many different conditions, each characterised by its own speech deficits. The researchers found the condition was linked to a stretch of chromosome 7, one of 46 chromosomes found in human cells. The work identified the precise gene on chromosome 7 which, when disrupted, causes the problem.

The study also confirmed the claim, first made 40 years ago by the American expert on linguistics, Professor Noam Chomsky, that the genetic roots of language explained how it is rapidly learnt by children without explicit instruction. Pinker said the language gene discovery could lead to "unprecedented future lines of research", such as a study of similar genes in primates.