language Flashcards
what are the properties of language
Communication: speaker-listener
Production and Expression
Comprehension and Reception
Generative
Distinguishing feature from other animals who can communicate
Novel messages are understood because we share a common rule system
Relies on several types of information
Phonology: sound of words
Semantics: meaning of words
Grammar: combinatorial rules (syntax)
Not necessarily audio-vocal, e.g reading, writing, signed languages
what is the structure of language
Syntax
Hierarchical structure
Recursion: able to embed linguistic units within each sentence
Human children cannot help but learn grammar
Grammatically correct nonsense sentences still insight imagery despite having no semantic value
E.g colourless green ideas sleep furiously
Syntactic trees
what are pidgins and creoles
Pidgin: rudimentary simplified language developed by a group of speakers from different linguistic backgrounds
Creole: children of pidgin speakers develop a more complex elaboration of the pidgin with rich syntactic forms
E.g nicaraguan sign language
what did broac (1861) discover about laguage
Patient Leborgne: unable to produce speech other than ‘tan’ and swear words but could understand questions
Localisation of language function to the inferior frontal gyrus
Localisation of language function to the left hemisphere
what is broca’s aphasia
non-fluent/ motor/ anterior aphasia
Speech is slow laboured and telegraphic
Function words and morphological inflections are omitted
Comprehension is good but not normal
Often accompanied by right-sided weakness
Pars opercularis and pars triangularis of inferior frontal gyrus (BA44 and 45) of left hemisphere
whar did wernicke (1874) discover
Patients who lost the ability to comprehend speech despite normal hearing
Could not produce meaningful speech despite normal articulation, grammar and prosody
What is wernicke’s aphasia
fluent/ semantic/ posterior aphasia
Fluent receptive, semantic or posterior aphasia
Speech is fluent and may be well formed but is empty of content or meaning
Paraphasias and neologisms
Comprehension is severely impaired
Poor repetition
Normal articulation, no motor weakness
Posterior part of superior temporal gyrus of the left hemisphere
what is the wernicke lichtheim house model
First modern model of brain function
Activity in different areas happening in sequence requiring conduction and connection between related areas
New way of viewing the symptoms of brain damage
Different regions have different functions
Regions are interdependent because they need to receive information from each other
Suggested that lesions to Broca’s or Wernicke’s areas or their disconnection from inputs or outputs could account for all the language deficits that could be acquired after brain lesions
Geschwind Model (1960s)
do left handed individuals have right lateralised language
Given that the typical right dominant hand is controlled by the left hemisphere - supposition that the reverse happened that left handed people would be right hemisphere dominant for language
Left handedness is more commonly observed in speech disorders and reading disability
There are some cases of right hemisphere and bilateral speech representation in left handed people but these are the minority
what is the wada test
Patients hold up both hands, moving their fingers, and must speak
When the anaesthetic in the left hemisphere kicks in their right hand drops and they stop speaking
For the right side the left hand drops but they continue to speak
what do we know about split brain patients (Sperry & Gazzaniga, 1975)
they are able to dissociated the two hemispheres by only presenting stimuli in each hemifield
When spoon is presented in the left hemifield (so picked up by right hemisphere) participants are unable to report seeing anything but can pick out this unseen object from a bag with their left hand
Right hemisphere has access to meaning of written words (semantics) but cannot speak (phonology)
Other studies show right hemisphere cannot generate or use syntax for comprehension
what is the dorsal and ventral model of language (Rauscheker & Scott, 2009)
A1 → (anterior) what something is (posterior) where
Ventral processing stream for what something is important for speech
Maps onto inverted house model
