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According to the NPS theory, neurological activities provide a physiological framework for swearing. Neurological factors are indispensible, though not sufficient for accounting for why people curse (Jay, 2000: 31). NPS Theory proposes that while reflexive swearing depends heavily on the right hemisphere of the brain, propositional cursing requires greater involvement of the left

hemisphere. Contemporary neurological evidence suggests that swearing may be triggered at the limbic level of the brain, involving the right hemisphere as the centre of emotions (Pinker, 2008: 330-331). Reflexive swearing does not require a significant amount of involvement of the left hemisphere, since it makes use of conventional, pre-learnt emotional response cries. Propositional swearing, on the other hand, involves greater involvement of the cortical level of the brain in the left hemisphere. Thus, propositional swearing depends on the same areas of the brain which are responsible for denotative speech, joke telling, sarcasm etc. Non- reflexive cursing, in short, involves the parts of brain responsible for non- emotional speech for phonological, syntactic and semantic processing of swearing episodes (Jay, 2000: 53).

The above claims are substantiated by reports from patients with aphasia: patients with left-hemisphere damage predominantly retain the ability to swear even if their language abilities have been impaired. Their swearing is predominantly reflexive; subjects have been reported to retain the ability to utter expletives on their own, but to have been unable to repeat a swearword when asked to do so. The majority of patients with right hemisphere lesions, on the other hand have been reported to have lost the ability to swear altogether. This is accompanied by the loss of understanding of metaphorical speech and manifestations of ―indifference reactions,‖ whereby patients lack interest in their own mental and emotional status (Jay, 2000: 37-8; Allan and Burridge, 2006: 78; Pinker, 2008: 334).

There appears to be some strong evidence in contemporary neural sciences to suggest that reflexive swearing resides in deep and ancient parts of the human brain. While denotations of words are typically stored at the cortical level in the right hemisphere, their connotations are spread between the limbic system and the neocortex, especially in the right hemisphere. The connotations of words which are stored in these parts of the brain include the emotional load of words and expressions (Pinker, 2008: 330-1).

As follows from the above discussion, swearing is dependent on the emotional brain, or the parts of the brain responsible for the evoking, inhibiting and expressing emotions. The classical philosophical view of rationalist philosophy

has been that emotions are parasitic to reasoning. Emotions, it has been presumed, do not play a role in human understanding of the world other than disrupting and obstructing the proper processes of reasoning. This perspective, however, has recently been challenged. Damasio (2006), for instance, proposes that rather than disturbing the reasoning processes, emotions may, in fact, assist in arriving at meaningful and rational conclusions. Emotions have the virtue of highlighting (or marking) certain aspects of a situation or certain outcomes of possible actions. Positive emotions connected with a situation provide a strong neurological and psychological incentive for a certain scenario. Negative emotions, on the other hand, are a deterring factor against undertaking a particular course of action. This observation provides the basis for the somatic marker hypothesis. Somatic markers are special instances of feelings, which in the process of learning have been connected to possible future outcomes of certain scenarios. Somatic markers are learned through experience and are formed within the constraints of internal and external factors, including social and ethical conventions (Damasio, 2006: 173-180). Damasio remarks that in many circumstances excessive thinking may be less advantageous than reacting on a ―gut feeling‖ evoked by somatic markers. Thus, somatic markers allow for making instantaneous decisions which are beneficial to an individual. Damasio assumes that human reasoning depends on several brain systems across distinct levels of neural organizations, including the centres which are responsible for the processing of emotions and feelings. The organ that appears to be crucial for the control of emotions, and thus for the production of expletives is the amygdala, whose primary function appears to be the control of anger and aggression. Extensive human and animal studies have also shown that the amygdala plays a vital role in the processing of emotions. In people the organ lights up when the subject is confronted with an angry face or a taboo word. Monkeys with the amygdala surgically removed have no difficulties learning a new shape, but have problems associating it with a negative stimulus introduced at the same time. In humans damage to the amygdala causes inability of normal processing of emotions and may result in patients getting themselves in problematic situations without their conscious awareness of doing so (Jay, 2000: 77; Damasio, 2006: 69-70, 133-4; Pinker, 2008: 332).

Another brain organ that seems to be heavily implicated in the production and control of expletives is the basal ganglia. This structure computes messages from many parts of the brain, including the amygdala. Different components of the basal ganglia inhibit each other, therefore damage to the structure causes a number of different abnormalities which are linked e.g. to Parkinson‘s disease and Huntington‘s disease. Pathological changes in the basal ganglia have also been linked to Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome, a partly hereditary neurological disease. The condition is manifested through uncontrolled muscle spasms, nervous twitches and uncontrollable vocalizations. In some patients the symptoms include coprolalia; uncontrollable outbursts of expletives and swearwords. Patients are unable to control themselves and feel a irresistible urge to curse, especially when they are in public places. Although the pathogenesis of Tourette Syndrome remains largely unknown, linking it to changes in the basal ganglia appears to have good grounds: some research suggests that in Tourette patients the areas of the basal ganglia responsible for the controlling and inhibiting offensive vocalisations have been damaged, leading to uncontrollable outbursts of coprolalia. (Jay, 2000: 64-7; Pinker, 2008: 335-7).