“Certain brain areas are considered near-inviolable, like the primary motor cortex, damage to which results in paralysis of affected body parts. But the most sacrosanct regions of the cortex are those that control language. Usually located on the left side, they are called Wernicke's & Broca's areas; one is for understanding language & the other for producing it. […]If both areas are damaged, the patient becomes an isolate, something central to her humanity stolen forever. After someone suffers a head trauma or stroke, the destruction of these areas restrains the surgeon's impulse to save a life: what kind of life exists without language?”