Language Flashcards
Phonemes
individual units of sound
Morphemes
smallest meaningful units of a word
Syntax
rules of grammar
Semantics
meanings of words/sentences
Production
being able to produce speech
Auditory Comprehension
Understanding words/information verbally presented
Repetition
ability to repeat what someone says
Expressive Aphasia
Broca’s; trouble coming up with words he wanted to say; Tan
Receptive Aphasia
Wernicke’s; comprehension difficulties
Symptoms of Expressive Aphasia
difficulty with speech production; telegraphic speech; aggramatism; circumlocution; phonemic & semantic paraphasias; mild comprehension deficits; poor repetition
Telegraphic Speech
speak only single words, short phrases, idioms
Aggramatism
function words, suffixes absent; “water floor”
Circumlocation
talking around what you want
Semantic paraphasias
word is related to the intended word; “boy landing down”
Phonetic paraphasias
substitution, addition or rearrangement of speech sounds so that error sounds like the target; “plashing” instead of splashing
Anatomy of Expressive Aphasia
left inferior frontal cortex; anterior to the primary motor cortex (facial movement); premotor cortex
Premotor Cortex (expressive aphasia)
consistent with sequencing deficits (speech –> motor processes); difficulty with phonemes into words and words into sentences
Fluent speech
relatively normal rate, rhythm, and intonation
Neologisms
make up words
Symptoms of Receptive Aphasia
fluent speech; semantic paraphasia; neologisms; poor comprehension; poor reception
Anatomy of Receptive Aphasia
posterior perisylvian region; planum temporale; conceptual link between auditory representations of words with meanings
Conduction Aphasia
normal speech comprehension & production (primary areas intact); isolated difficulty with repetition; phonemic paraphasia; difficulty naming (objects); arcuate fasciculus damaged
What is the arcuate fasciculus involved with?
conduction aphasia
Difficulties with the classical connectionist model of language?
lesions don’t precisely match expected patterns; variability in definition of lesions; aphasias not clearly defined clinically
Mental lexicon
the interface that links representations of word form or sound with other types of knowledge
how many words does a normal speaker have in their lexicon?
50,000-100,000
how many words can a normal speaker recognize?
3 per second
Semantic Network
word meanings characterized by complex connections
how is the semantic network organized?
based on meanings of words, with similar words having stronger connections than dissimilar words
Spreading activation
activation of a conceptual node will lead to activation of similar concepts nearby
Behavioral evidence of semantic network
semantic priming studies: first memory of a word pair presented, second word presented is either fake, real unrelated, or real related word. Results: fastest to respond to real related words bc no network exists for fake words
Biological evidence of semantic network
category specific naming deficits; Lesions
Semantic Network: category specific naming deficits
damaging neural networks; H. Damasio examined naming deficits in faces, animals, tools–people have isolated deficits, combined deficits, and deficits in all three, but no combined deficits in faces and tools
Face deficits
left temporal pole
animal deficits
inferior temporal lobe
tool deficits
posterior temporal lobe
Gow
argued there should be networks for speaking if there are for words; found longer voice onset time for words with phonological competitors compared to noncompetitor words; Dorsal basis for lexicon (angular gyrus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, premotor cortex)
