Sign language is helping researchers better understand the origins of language. University of Rochester scientists checked the brain scans of native signers while watching other native signers communicate 24 sentences twice in ASL. The first run through emphasized word-order arrangement, while the next time would depended on inflection for understanding. It turns out, different parts of the brain are used for each type of communition.
The finding may support the idea that it was trade between different groups of early humans that got the brain working on language. This would also mean that language is a much more recent development than many experts believe.
