ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the improved biological account of language and language disorders with how biologists think about development and evolution, how neuroscientists think about the brain and how psychologists think about cognitive development. On paper, clinical categories like dyslexia or specific language impairment (SLI) refer to cognitive disorders in which only language becomes impaired and that can be distinguished from other similar categories at all levels of analysis. Using dyslexia as an example, reading difficulties are observed in many cognitive disorders. The chapter reviews strategies that surely contribute to a better understanding and handling of language disorders. On the Linguistics side, language disorders should be construed in terms of the primitives that are central in current linguistic theories. On the biology side, some key lessons about the way in which living beings are organized and develop should be taken into account.
