Biocomputing: an insight from linguistics

This paper is placed in a formal framework in which the interdisciplinary study of natural language is conducted by integrating linguistics, computer science and biology. It provides an overview of the field of research, conveying the main biological ideas that have influenced research in linguistics. Our work highlights the main methods of molecular computing that have been applied to the processing and study of the structure of natural language: DNA computing, membrane computing and networks of evolutionary processors. Moreover, some new challenges and lines of research for the future are pointed out, that can provide important improvements in the understanding of natural language as a structure and a human capacity.