Language behaviour is complex, but neuroscientific evidence disentangles it into distinct components supported by dedicated brain areas or networks. In this Review, we describe the ‘core’ language network, which includes left-hemisphere frontal and temporal areas, and show that it is strongly interconnected, independent of input and output modalities, causally important for language and language-selective. We discuss evidence that this language network plausibly stores language knowledge and supports core linguistic computations related to accessing words and constructions from memory and combining them to interpret (decode) or generate (encode) linguistic messages. We emphasize that the language network works closely with, but is distinct from, both lower-level — perceptual and motor — mechanisms and higher-level systems of knowledge and reasoning. The perceptual and motor mechanisms process linguistic signals, but, in contrast to the language network, are sensitive only to these signals’ surface properties, not their meanings; the systems of knowledge and reasoning (such as the system that supports social reasoning) are sometimes engaged during language use but are not language-selective. This Review lays a foundation both for in-depth investigations of these different components of the language processing pipeline and for probing inter-component interactions.

语言行为很复杂，但神经科学证据将其分解为由专用大脑区域或网络支持的不同组成部分。在这篇综述中，我们描述了 “核心 ”语言网络，其中包括左半球额叶和颞叶区域，并表明它是高度互连的，独立于输入和输出模式，对语言和语言选择具有因果关系的重要性。我们讨论了这种语言网络合理地存储语言知识并支持与从内存中访问单词和结构并将它们组合以解释（解码）或生成（编码）语言信息相关的核心语言计算的证据。我们强调语言网络与较低层次的（感知和运动）机制以及较高层次的知识和推理系统密切相关，但又不同于它们。知觉和运动机制处理语言信号，但与语言网络相反，它们只对这些信号的表面特性敏感，而不对它们的含义敏感;知识和推理系统（例如支持社会推理的系统）有时会在语言使用过程中参与，但不是语言选择性的。这篇综述为深入研究语言处理管道的这些不同组成部分和探索组件间的交互奠定了基础。