2014-04-22
Sources
" Yule, 2006. The study of language. CUP.
 Chapter 13: Language and the brain.
Introduction to linguistics
" Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, Nina
Hyams. 2003. An introduction to language.
 Chapter 2: Brain and language.
Lecture 10: Psycholinguistics
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Subfield Description Research questions
Neurolinguistics
Phonetics The study of speech How the brain extracts speech
sounds sounds from an acoustic signal;
how the brain separate speech
" Neurolinguistics  the study of the
sounds from background noise.
relationship between the brain and language:
Phonology The study of how How the phonological system of a lg
sounds are organized is represented in the brain.
 speech, hearing, reading, writing and nonverbal
in a lg
communication.
Morphology The study of how How the brain stores and accesses
words are structured words that a person knows.
 Studies the way language is processed in the
and stored
brain,
Syntax The study of how How the brain combines words into
sentences are phrases and sentences; how
 especially the processing of spoken language
constructed structural and semantic information
when certain areas of the brain are damaged.
is used in understanding sentences
Semantics The sudy of how
" N. is an interdisciplinary study. meaning is encoded in
lg
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Language and the brain The hemispheres
" The human brain is divided into
" Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of
a lower section (the brain
stem) and a higher section (the the body,
cerebrum).
 but they do not function in the same way.
" The brain stem controls such
critical functions as breathing,
" Certain functions tend to be dominated by
heartbeats and consciousness.
one hemisphere.
" The cerebrum integrates us
with the environment.
" The specialization of brain functions by area is
Language is likely to be
called lateralization.
organized here.
 Divided into 2 parts: the left and
right hemispheres, linked by a
series of bridges.
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Evidence Evidence
" Dichotic listening test (Kimura 1967; Obler and
" The Wada test (developed by Wada in the
Gjerlow 1999)  a participant puts on
1940s)  a barbiturate is introduced into one
headphones; then two different speech signals
of the arteries; the drug reaches one
are played, each into different ears; the
hemisphere and shuts it down; then it is
participant has to repeat the words aloud.
possible to evaluate the working of the other
" Most participants repeated the word played into
hemisphere.
the right ear (i.e. they showed a right ear
advantage)  proof that the left hemisphere
 The patient is given a number of language tests to
processes linguistic signals and the right
see which hemisphere takes part in language
hemisphere  non-linguistic signals.
processing.
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Language functions: (usually) the left
Language and the brain
hemisphere
" The majority of normal human beings (about
90%) have speech located primarily in the left
hemisphere.
" Other researchers discovered that the left
hemisphere seems to be linked to right-
handedness:
 Most humans are right-handed, and most people s
speech is controlled by the left hemisphere.
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Language functions: (usually) the left Language functions: (usually) the left
hemisphere hemisphere
1. Broca s area  a region in the human brain 2. Wernicke s area  a region in the brain
with functions linked to speech production. involved in the understanding of written and
spoken language.
 In the 1860s, a French surgeon, Paul Broca,
reported that damage to this part of the brain
 In the 1870s, a German doctor, Carl Wernicke,
was related to great difficulty in producing speech.
reported that damage to this part of the brain
caused speech complrehension problems.
" Recent studies show that Broca s area also
plays an important role in language 3. The motor cortex  an area that generally
understanding. controls movement of the muscles (of hands,
feet, facial muscles, etc.)
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Language functions: (usually) the left
The localization view
hemisphere
" is a way of describing how the brain processes
4. The arcuate fasciculus
language:
- a bundle of nerve fibres which form a vital
 The brain follows a certain pattern when it is actively
connection between Wernicke s and Broca s
involved in hearing a word, understanding it, and then
saying it.
areas.
1. The word is heard and understood via the Wernicke s
" Damage to each of these brain areas (often
area.
because of stroke or head injury) may cause
2. The signal is then sent via the arcuate fasciculus to
Broca s area  there preparations are made to
various problems with producing or
produce it.
understanding language.
3. A signal is sent to the motor cortex to physically
" This condition is called aphasia
articulate the word.
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Minor language production difficulties Minor language production difficulties
" Problems with getting the brain and speech " Slip of the tongue  producing expressions in
production to work together smoothly may which the first letters of words or whole words
provide possible clues to how our linguistic are transposed, e.g. a long shory stort (instead of
knowledge is organized within the brain. a long story short), or use the door to open the
key.
" The tip of the tongue phenomena
 Slips of the tongue are also called spoonerisms after
(malapropisms)  we feel that some word is
William Spooner, an Anglican clergyman at Oxford
eluding us, that we know the word but it just
University, who was renowned for his tongue-slips,
won t come to the surface.
e.g.
 E.g. a speaker wanted to name a particular
 He was killed by a blushing crow (He was killed by a
navigational instrument (sextant) but kept producing
crushing blow).
secant, sextet and sexton.
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Minor language production difficulties Broca s aphasia (motor aphasia)
" Slips of the ear  show how the brain tries to " Damage to Broca s area frequently disrupts
make sense of the auditory signal it receives. the ability to speak.
 E.g. someone says gray tape but you ve heard  The patient s speech becomes slow and distorted;
great ape. functional morphemes (e.g. articles, prepositions)
and inflections tend to be omitted, while only
" Perhaps some Malapropisms originate as slips
lexical morphemes (i.e. nouns, verbs, etc.) are left.
of the ear.
 Such patients often additionally suffer from
" However, some problems with language
paralysis or weakening of the right arm and leg,
production and comprehension result from
because this region of the brain also controls body
more serious disorders in brain function. movement.
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Wernicke s aphasia Conduction aphasia
" Damage to Wernicke s area often destroys " Damage to the arcuate fasciculus results in
language comprehension. patients producing and understanding speech
well, but being unable to repeat what has
 Patients produce grammatical speech without
effort, but they can t convey the meaning.
been said.
 They usually have no body weakness, because this
 Patients may mispronounce words and may have
area is far from the parts controlling movement.
disrupted rhythm because of pauses and
hesitations.
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Aphasia
" This classification of various types of aphasia
is an over-simplification:
 recent studies have shown that it is impossible to
connect precisely brain areas and the traditional
symptom classifications.
 Serious damage to either area typically disrupts
all aspects of speech.
 There are patients with damaged Broca s or
Wernicke s areas who don t suffer any language
disorder.
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