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Abstract

The neuroanatomical pathway model of language assumes four neuroanatomically distinguished language-related pathways, two located ventrally and two located dorsally. The dorsal pathway that connects the temporal cortex with the premotor cortex is responsible for sensory-to-motor mapping relevant for speech repetition. The ventral pathway that connects the temporal cortex to the anterior portion of the inferior frontal gyrus subserves semantic processes. The two remaining pathways are part of two different syntactic networks. The ventral pathway that connects the anterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the frontal operculum is part of the ventral syntactic network that supports the binding of adjacent elements and, thereby, local structure building. The dorsal pathway connecting the posterior Broca’s area and the posterior STG is part of the dorsal syntactic network that supports the processing of complex hierarchical sentences. The latter three networks constitute the neural basis of sentence processing.