Publication Date

Fall 11-30-2009


School of Education


TESL--Teacher Certification

Primary Subject Area

Language, Linguistics


speech, intelligence, correlation, aphasia, specific language impairment, Williams syndrome, FOXP2


First and Second Language Acquisition | Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics


Human language is a complex cognitive ability that is still not fully understood by scientists. Except in rare occasions of extreme seclusion or disability, children are able to acquire language without explicitly being taught how. Though animals have the ability to communicate, their “languages” are not comparable to human language. Commonly, people believe that one’s language ability correlates directly to one’s intelligence. It is the purpose of this paper to explore that belief and test its veracity. My hypothesis is that this correlation does not exist or is at best weak. This will be done by looking at several language-related disorders and the effect they have on human speech.