Language Flashcards
memory required for language
phonological - sounds of words
orthographic - spelling of words
semantic - meaning of words
sensory required for language
auditory processing - spoken words or music
visual processing - written words or objects or faces
tactile processing - braille
motor required for language
articulation, writing, signing or drawing, moving hand, holding pen
individual sound units
phoneme
written form used to represent phonemes
grapheme
smallest meaningful units of a word, in combination creates words (prefixes/suffixes)
morphemes
admissable combinations of words in phrases and sentences (grammar/placement of words)
syntax
the collection of all words in a given language, mental “dictionary”
lexicon
the meanings that correspond to all lexical items and possible sentences
semantics
study of how and why words take on certain structure and how that affects semantics and syntax
morphology
social rules governing how language is used
pragmatics
vocal intonation that can modify the literal meaning of words and sentences
prosody
linking of sentences such that they constitute a narrative
discourse
disorder of language and can be apparent in speech, writing, reading or all three
produced by injury to the brain areas specialized for the functions
key thing is deficit is not due to paralysis or intellectual delay
aphasia
PAUL BROCA: language production
motor, expressive, non-fluent aphasia
difficulty speaking: slow, deliberate, simple grammar structure; melodically flat, comprehension intact, damage to left frontal (lower posterior)
fluent ability to put words together is lost
CARL WERNICKE: language comprehension
receptive, fluent aphasia
speech production intact and flows without hesitation; appropriate innotation; comprehension impaired; speech is meaningless; damage to left temporal (superior and posterior)
conduction aphasia
damage to left auditory cortex in insula
fluent speech and intact comprehension
cannot repeat words
global aphasia
massive lesion in left hemisphere
impaired production, comprehension and repetition
alexia without agraphia
normal speech, normal writing, poor reading
agraphia
normal speech, poor writing
word deafness
normal speech, poor comprehension, poor repeition
subtests of Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Exam
boston naming test: patient is required to name various pictures that vary in frequency, animacy, etc.
responsive naming: answer the object that refers to the statement like “what do we tell time with”
boston naming areas
circumlocation: anomic (tip of tongue phenomena; phonemic clues help)
perceptual error
semantic paraphasia (get meaning, wrong word, still english): Wernicke and transcortical sensory
phonemic paraphasia (semantically unrelated word that shares a lot of phenomes with real word): Wernicke and transcortical sensory
neologism: made up word that shares 50% phenomes with target word: Wernicke’s and transcortical sensory
TESTS OF EXPRESSION
oral agility: tongue and mouth movements
verbal agility: say “tip-top, tip-top”
automatic sequences: days of week, count to 10
mean length of utterance
TESTS OF COMPREHENSION
basic word discrimination: patient instructed to point to picture or body part corresponding to spoken test word
commands: “tap each shoulder twice with two fingers, keeping your eyes shut”
complex ideational material: patient responds to questions based on short stories and more general queries like “will a cork sink in water?”
TESTS OF REPETITION
single word repetition
single pesudoword repeition: some category specific deficits people could have; also tests verbal agility
repeition of sentences: “he finds the keys in his pocket”
Wernicke-Geschwind neurological model - repetition of heard word
auditory pathways - primary auditory cortex - Wernicke’s area - arcuate fasciculus - Broca’s area - primary motor cortex
Wernicke-Geschwind neurological model - reading words
visual pathways - visual cortex - angular gyrus - Wernicke’s area - Broca’s area - primary motor cortex
limitations of classical approach
based on observations of stroke patients
49% of aphasics are unclassifiable
doesn’t account for complexities of normal language processing and other dissociation
could see more subtleties with problems in comprehension
psycholinguistic models
four distinct lexicons: auditory input, phonological output, orthographic input, orthographic output
cognitive system is concept for words
double dyslexia dissociation - surface
inability to recognize words directly but can understand the word by sounding it out (PHONOLOGIC system preserved)
does well with “dome and home” but “come” throws system off
understand phonemes and can recognize and correctly pronounce words, but irregular words cause impairment
double dyslexia dissociation - phonologic
inability to read non-words aloud
faced with “lont” and cannot say or read it
when shown irregular word like “debt” they can read it
ORTHOGRAPHIC SYSTEM PRESERVED
structural plasticity
physiological changes in a given area of brain in response to learning, injury or development
changes in brain where function used to be
functional plasticity
cortical reorganization in response to learning, injury or development (ability of brain to assume the functional role of another)
new areas involved
Evidence for structural plasticity: monolinguals vs. bilinguals grey matter density in inferior parietal cortex
greater in bilinguals than monolinguals but greatest in early bilinguals
