GO6--> Language Flashcards
What is language?
is a system of communication that allows for the exchange of infinite combinations of ideas. It can be by means of sounds or body language. It is species wide and will spontaneously emerge in all normal children.
Is language spontaneous?
It does not need to be taught it does emerge spontaneously
Language is not necessary for thinking, why?
people think in words and sentences, but also in visual images, abstract concepts and other nonlinguistic forms of thought.
Is reading and writing spontaneous?
written language (reading/writing) must be taught
What does Lexeme mean?
different forms of a word that originate from one single word (Ex–> love –> loving, loved, etc)
What does morpheme mean?
any word or word part that conveys meaning and which cannot be divided into smaller elements that also convey a meaning
Give an example of a morpheme
book is a morphene; it can not be broken down further but books can be broken into “book” and “s”
There are two components of language design, what are they?
Word –> a combination between a sound and meaning
Grammer –> rules how lexemes are meaningfully combined
what is morphology in terms of language?
Describes word structures and formation; combining word and affixes to larger words (adore-able)
what does syntax mean?
meaning sequence or order; describes how sentences are constructed and relations among words
what does phonetics mean?
classification of sounds made in spoken language
what is prosody?
describe the intonation, stress, rate and rhythm, that provide speech with its melodic character
How does one go about producing a sentence?
choose words, grammatical rules encode ideas and intentions and generate articulatory commands in the motor system
How does one then comprehend a sentence?
(i) coordinate sensory information from auditory (or visual) system with grammar and words and send that info about interpretation to the memory and reasoning systems
(ii) this takes a complex pattern of information flow to many parts of the brain
Is the capacity to learn innate for children?
yes
List the critical time markers for children in terms of language development
5-7 months –> sounds
7-8 months –> well formed syllables
1-2—> first word mamma with an understanding of the connection between the word and their Mom
2 years –> speaking in rich phrase (Children language)
3 years –> often correct use of grammar with a good understanding of the basic rules
what are the two parameters in humans as to why language developed?
(i) humans exploited the environment
(ii) humans were involved in cooperation
What has language allowed for, in terms of our ancestors?
to benefit from sharing acquired information
In humans what is the right hemisphere used for?
(i) Damage to the right results in an inability to express emotion
(ii) therefore the speech is flat, lifeless and mechanical
patients who lose the left but still have the right can still sing songs and even learn new ones
In humans what is the left hemisphere used for?
96% of people use the left hemisphere for language processing (grammar, words and phonetics)
Sign language also depends on this hemisphere
ppl who lose left but not right can still sing songs and even learn new ones
In humans what is the right hemisphere used for?
(i) communicative and emotional prosody (Stress, timing and intonation)
(ii) pragmatics of language
How does the patient present if there is damage to the right hemisphere?
right anterior damage–> wrong intonation
right posterior damage –> difficulty in interpretation
difficulty in construction of sentences into a story
difficulty in understanding jokes and sarcasm
The Wernike-Geschwind Model of Language is organized into three different areas, what are there areas?
Broca's (44,45) --> organizes and coordinates the muscles during speech Wenike's Area (22) --> provides the transformation of auditory output into meaningful information Angular Gyrus (39) --> combines sensory input to translate the visual patterns of letters/words into meaningful information
In the Wernike-Geschwind model of language what is the role of the arcuate fasciculus ?
a unidirectional pathway from Wernicke’s to Broca’s Area
Describe language processing in terms of incoming spoken word
A. Auditory signal –> auditory pathway –> primary auditory cortex –> Wernicke’s area –> evocation of the word’s meaning in brain areas near to Wernicke’s area
Describe language processing in terms of outgoing spoken word
B. Nonverbal meanings –> conversion to an acoustic image in Wernicke’s area –> arcuate fasciculus –> Broca’s area –> motor cortex
Describe language processing in terms of reading
C. input from left visual cortex –> Wernicke’s area –> evocation of the word’s meaning in brain areas near to Wernicke’s area
Describe language processing in terms of writing
D. nonverbal meanings – >conversion to a motor/visual image in Wernicke’s area –> arcuate fasciculus –> Broca’s area –> premotor area above Broca’s area
What are Aphasia disorders
describes disorders of language that occur in speech, writing (agraphia) or reading (alexia) caused by damage of the brain which are responsible for these functions
Aphasias are divided into two major categories, what are they?
Fluent (Wernike’s)
Nonfluent (Broca’s)
What is fluent aphasia?
characterized by fluent speech with difficulties in comprehension and repetition
There are 4 different types of Fluent Aphasia, each card will go through one. 1 –>
- Wernike’s Aphasia (wernike’s area 22) –> damage to posterior section of left auditory association cortex
patients have no problem pronouncing/articulating words but have poor comprehension and repetition, aka word salad
what are some classical features seen in Wernicke’s Aphasia?
- Pronunciation speech rhythm –> normal, fluent, loquacious
- Speech Content –> use of wrong or nonexistent words
- Repetition of speech –>abnormal
- Comprehension of spoken language –> very abnormal
- Comprehension of written language –> abnormal but better than for spoken
- Writing –> penmanship okay but misspelling and inaccuracies
- Naming –> wrong names
- Other -> sometime hemianopia
What is the second type of fluent aphasia?
- Transcortical Sensory Aphasia ( lesion of sensory association cortex)
(i) inability to speak spontaneously, comprehension deficits are present but REPETITION IS NORMAL
(ii) deficit in semantic retrieval; syntatcic and phonological abilities are not impaired
Damage to what area of the brain results in transcortical sensory aphasia?
damage to the perisylvian area (junction of temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes) hypoxia
What is the third type of fluent aphasia ?
Gerstmann Syndrome (i) translation of visual patterns of letters and words into meaningful information is impaired
Damage to what area of the brain results in Gerstmann Syndrome?
lesion of the angular gyrus (MCA)
what are some classical characteristics of Gerstmann Syndrome?
- Pronunciation speech rhythm –> normal
- Speech Content –> often normal
- Repetition of speech –> normal
- Comprehension of spoken language –> normal
- Comprehension of written language –> very abnormal
- Writing –> very abnormal spelling errors
- Naming –> often abnormal
- Other –> slight hemiparesis trouble calculating’ hemoanopsia
what is the fourth type of fluent aphasia ?
- Conduction Aphasia
(i) connection between Wernike-Broca is lost (arcuate fasicuclus) causing understanding without ability to repeat
(ii) the patient can say something wrong and realize it but when attempting to correct it, will repeat the mistake
what is the location of the lesion in conductive aphasia?
damage to the left superior temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobe (39/40)
damage may extend to left primary auditory cortex (41/42), insula and underlying white matter
What are the classic characteristics of conduction aphasia?
- Pronunciation speech rhythm –> normal
- Speech content –> some wrong words
- Repetition of speech –> abnormal
- Comprehension of spoken language –> slightly abnormal
- Comprehension of written language –> often normal
- Writing –> occasional spelling and language errors
- Naming –> occasional wrong names
- Other –> slight hemiparesis, neglect of right-sided stimuli
What is non-fluent aphasia?
Non-fluent speech; difficulty in articulation through comprehension is preserved
There are three different types of Non-fluent aphasias, each card will go through one. 1 –>
- Broca’s Aphasia (44.45) –>
(i) difficulty in speaking and repeating but comprehension is intact
(ii) they speak in slow and small sentences; because comprehension is intact, they are quickly frustrated/impatient
Where is the damage in Broca’ Aphasia
Broca’s Area (inferior left frontal gyrus, broadmans’s areas 44/45)
Surrounding frontal fields (broadman’s areas 6,8,9,10,46)
underlying white matter, insula and basal ganglia
Give the classical feature of Broca’s Aphasia
- Pronunciation of speech rhythm – >Dysarthria, stuttering, effortful
- Speech Content –> Missed Syllables agrammatical telegraphic
- Repetition of Speech –> abnormal but better then spontaneous
- Comprehension of spoken language –> normal
- Comprehension of written language –> not as good as for spoken language
- Writing –> Clumsy, agrammatical, misspelling
- Naming –> better than spontaneous speech
- Other –> hemiplegia and apraxia
What is the second type of nonfluent aphasia?
Transcortical Motor Aphasia
(i) non fluent language
(ii) can repeat longer sentences
(iii) disconnection of the language areas (initiation and control of speech)
(iv) better in naming test versus spontaneous speech
what areas of the brain are damaged in transcortical motor aphasia
damage to the left dorsolateral frontal area, anterior and superior broca’s area and there may be damage to the actual broca’s area
Transcortical Motor aphasia is a less severe aphasia then Broca’s what is one important difference between the two?
Repetition is preserved
what is the third non fluent aphasia?
Global Aphasia–> combination of Broca’s, Wernike’s and Conduction Aphasia
(i) unable to produce language nor able to comprehend language
On examination of an aphasic patient, in order to classify patient, the patient must be able to do the following–>
- Speak fluently –> with normal articulation and rhythm; without syntactical, paraphasic or grammatical errors
- Accurately Repeat –> able to repeat spoken words or phrases
- Understand –> spoken language, proven with accurate responses and ability to follow spoken commands
- Name common objects –> this should be done consistently
- Read –> aloud and accurately
- Name words –> spelled aloud
- Write –> legibly and grammatically
What is Alexia?
(i) word blindness, inability to read
(ii) disconnection in transfer of visual information to the areas of the left hemisphere
(ii) disconnection between visual and language system
Damage to what part of the brain results in Alexia?
damage to the splenius –> posterior corpus callosum
what visual field can patients read from in Alexia?
patents can read words in the right visual field ONLY!
what is developmental dyslexia?
damage to the left hemisphere of the brain which leaves child unable to perform proper word identification when reading
Patient with dyslexia have a problem with print to sounds translation what does that mean
they will read the word cat as car
Brain PET scans suggest what about the potential cause of dyslexia?
suggest abnormal cerebral lateralization
what are some of the findings associated with this deficit in cerebral lateralization?
(i) tendency to read backwards; most often left handed ppl
(ii) inability to process rapid sensory input( rapid visual conduction is often impaired)
(iii) cells of the magnocellular pathway and LGN are smaller than normal
