17. LANGUAGE Flashcards
Define language
- Language is a system for representing, communicating information about the world using symbols & rules
What are the 5 functional components of language?
- ARTICULATION
- PHONOLOGY
- MEANING/SEMANTICS
- SYNTAX
- COMPREHENSION
What is articulation?
- ARTICULATION is the movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, pharynx & epiglottis to modify a sound wave
What two ways can articulation be classified?
- Place of articulation
- Labial - sound from the lips
- Alveolar - sound when tongue presses - Manner of articulation
- Voiced vs unvoiced
- Fricative, plosive
What is phonology?
- Phonology is the sound combination from which the syllables & words of a language are built up
What areas of the brain are involved in meaning?
- Left & right temporal lobes
- There are interconnections throughout the association cortex
Which areas of the brain are involved in syntax?
- Left inferior frontal gyrus
- Posterior Broca’s area
Which areas of the brain are involved in articulation & phonology?
- Motor complex areas which control movements of the tongue, mouth, larynx
- Broca’s area is also involved
Which areas of the brain are involved in comprehension?
- Comprehension involves all the areas of the brain
- Primary auditory cortex to understand speech
- Temporal lobes, left inferior gyrus, arcuate fasiculus
What 4 types of aphasia can occur due to stroke/focal damage?
- Broca’s aphasia
- Wernicke’s aphasia
- Conduction aphasia
- Dynamic aphasia
What is Broca’s aphasia?
- Broca’s aphasia is caused by damage to Broca’s area
- Characterised by difficulty with articulation & phonology
What happens to speech & comprehension in Broca’s area?
- BROken speech - BROca’s area
- Speech is slow, halted & fragmented
- Comprehension may be lower but tends to be unaffected because there’s no damage to the temporal poles
Give two pathologies that result in Broca’s aphasia?
- Middle cerebral artery infarction
2. Haemorrhage stroke
What is Wernicke’s aphasia?
- Wernicke’s aphasia is characterised by damage to the posterior regions of the language network in the left cerebral hemisphere
How does Wernicke’s aphasia affect speech & comprehension?
- Wernicke’s aphasia produces speech that is fluent but meaningless.
- There’s a loss of meaning because individuals struggle to remember the meaning for words
- Addition of meaningless or invented words
Give two pathologies that result in Wernicke’s aphasia?
- Cerebral haemorrhage
2. Pentrating brain injury
What is conduction aphasia?
- Conduction aphasia is caused by damage to the posterior perisylvian regions of gray matter & underlying white matter
- Individuals may have difficulty repeating words or phrases that have been said
- Speech is mildly fluent but there are comprehension issues
What area of the brain is damaged in conduction aphasia?
- Posterior perisylvian regions of gray matter & underlying white matter
How can dynamic aphasia be tested for?
- High constraint vs Low constraint test
- High constraint sentences are easy to complete
- Low constraint sentences are hard to complete
What pathology can cause conduction aphasia?
- Lacunar stroke
- Affects the middle cerebral artery
What is dynamic aphasia?
- Dynamic aphasia is the rarest form of aphasia
- It involves difficulty with planning, initiating or maintaining speech
What happens to speech & comprehension in dynamic aphasia?
- In dynamic aphasia, the speech is echoic, repetitive or fragmented
Which area of the brain is damaged in Dynamic aphasia?
- Anterior left inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann 45)
What pathology can cause dynamic aphasia?
- Left anterior cerebral infarction
What is Wernicke’s aphasia also known as?
- Sensory or receptive aphasia
What three types of aphasia can occur as a result of brain neurodegeneration?
- NON-FLUENT PROGRESSIVE APHASIA
- FLUENT PROGRESSIVE APHASIA
- LOGOPENIC APHASIA
What is non-fluent progressive aphasia?
- Non-fluent progressive aphasia is characterized by slow, distorted grammatical speech
What happens to speech & comprehension in non-fluent progressive aphasia?
- Speech: phonological & grammatical errors in speech which begins with subtle changes getting progressively worse over time
- Comprehension: single word comprehension or preserved. But individuals may have difficulty understanding sentences
What pathology can cause non-fluent progressive aphasia?
- Primary tauopathy [FTD-Tau]
- Deposition of Tau in language areas
What is fluent progressive aphasia?
- Fluent progressive aphasia is characterised by normal sounding speech rate & production but with empty content
- Begins with subtle word finding changes as individuals have single word comprehension difficulties
What pathology can cause fluent progressive aphasia?
- TDP-43 Proteinopathy (|FTD-TDP)
- Abnormal TDP deposition in anterior temporal region
What is logopenic aphasia?
- Logopenic aphasia is characterised by poor speech output with errors in phonology & syntax
- Difficulty repeating sentences
What pathology can cause logopenic aphasia?
- Damage to posterior perislyvian regions due to Alzheimer’s
