Véronique Boulenger
Senior Scientist CNRS (Directrice de Recherche CNRS)
Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, Lyon, France

Embodied cognition theories have propelled our body at the core of language: our sensory and motor experiences shape and enrich our linguistic representations. Most studies in the field have revealed this grounding of language in action and perception for semantic processing. The idea that syntax also shares tight links with motor actions has on the contrary been put forward more recently and has been scarcely empirically investigated. In this talk, I will first review evidence that processing word meaning involves the sensorimotor system, and that some typological regularities between languages may also find an echo in the motor system. I will then present findings from neuroimaging and behavioral experiments supporting the existence of a common syntactic function for language and tool use, which may benefit the rehabilitation of language disorders. Language is therefore not independent from other cognitive domains but it is “bound hand and foot” to our actions and perceptions.