Unity and diversity – the Williams subjects’ message

Resumo

Williams subjects, due to a genetically based neuro-developmental disorder from birth, besides various medical problems, demonstrate a dissociation between cognitive and special linguistic processing, and a dissociation within language modules, language domains, and language mini-domains with reference to different languages. This ichotomous profile results from a deletion on one hromosome. What other genes on the same chromosome, not yet identified, or other genes on other chromosomes of the human genome, may be responsible for the same or similar or any other cognitive deficits and/or interactions of cognitive and linguistic deficits, and as such may reveal the specific processes located within specific modules, domains, and/or mini-domains across different languages and cultures, we do not know. What we need, however, is a unified consilient approach engaging the sciences and the humanities to integrate knowledge from various sources of investigation.