NEURO: Language Flashcards
What is language?
It is a system for representing and communicating information about the world using symbols and rules.
There are natural languages and ‘formal’ languages. Formal languages (such as computer languages) are finite systems and have rules for combination.
There are also human languages and animal languages. They are either closed/finite or generative, and they are capable of representing abstract concepts.
How have language groups evolved?
Language groups are a group of languages that have evolved from a common ancestral language, and as a result, have a common root word so that their vocabulary is relatively similar.
What are the five functional components of language?
- Articulation
- Phonology
- Meaning (semantics)
- Syntax
- Comprehension
Expand on articulation as a functional component of language.
It is the movement of the tongue, lips and jaw to modify a sound wave.
How do we classify the sounds that make up words?
Place of articulation:
-labial, alveolar, palatal
Manner of articulation:
- voiced vs unvoiced
- fricative, plosive etc.
Expand on phonology as a component of language.
It is the sound combination from which the syllables and words of a language are built up.
How are different sounds from different languages represented?
through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) because the writing systems of different countries/languages are different from one another
Phomenes
the basic units of sound in language
Expand on meaning (semantics) as a functional component of language.
This is the representation in the long-term memory of concepts and the relations between them.
It’s when actions, objects and properties get converted into verbs, nouns and adjectives (etc.).
It is largely independent of grammar. The mapping between the concepts and symbols in generally arbitrary (though nb onomatopoeia - e.g. hiss).
Expand on syntax as a functional component of language.
This is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. It relies on grammatical markers and word order.
In English, the word order SVO (subject, verb, object) is paramount to assigning roles. Other markers rely on ‘markers’ of word role.
Expand on comprehension as a functional component of language.
It is the ability to represent the meaning of words or sentences spoken or written by another person. It Entails knowledge of articulation, phonology, meaning and SYNTAX, in addition to:
- context
- pitch
- stress
- prosody
What are some different parts of the brain involved in the cerebral comprehension of language?
Left hemisphere network of cortical regions and white matter connections
- Broca’s Area
- Fasciculus Arcuatus
- Auditory Cortex
- Wernicke’s Area
Which brain region does articulation and phonology of language depend on?
inferior parts of the motor homunculus (i.e. the tongue, mouth, larynx, etc.). of the somatosensory cortex, corresponding to the anterior portions of Broca’s area
Which brain region does meaning (semantics) of language depend on?
highly dependent on the left and right temporal lobes because there are dense interconnections between the temporal poles with widespread regions of association cortex
-‘ modality independent representations’
Which brain region does SYNTAX depend on?
left inferior frontal gyrus
Which brain region does comprehension of language depend on?
It is dependant on:
- the primary auditory cortex
- temporal poles
- left inferior frontal gyrus
- arcuate fasciculus
- left posterior superior
- temporal gyrus
Changes in language after brain damage due to…
stroke
neurodegeneration
What are some examples of brain damage (language-related) that a stroke can lead to?
- Broca’s aphasia
- Wernicke’s aphasia
- Conduction aphasia
- Adynamic aphasia
Describe Broca’s aphasia.
Difficulty with articulation and phonology
Follows damage to Broca’s area
SPEECH: halting, fragmented, distorted, agrammatic
COMPREHENSION: preserved for words, reduced for sentences
TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction, haemorrhagic stroke
Describe Wernicke’s aphasia.
It is also known as ‘receptive aphasia’ or ‘sensory aphasia’. It follows damage to the posterior regions of the language network.
SPEECH: fluent, often with meaningless phonological strings
TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: penetrating brain injury, cerebral haemorrhage
Describe conduction aphasia.
It follows damage to the posterior perisylvian regions and the underlying white matter and results in difficulty with repetition.
SPEECH CHARACTERISTICS: mild fluency and comprehension difficulties
TEST: single word and sentence repetition
TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: lacunar stroke
Describe dynamic aphasia.
This is the rarest aphasia. It follows damage to the anterior left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45), and results in difficulty planning, initiating or maintaining speech.
SPEECH CHARACTERISTICS: reduced, fragmentary, echoic, perseverative speech
TEST: high vs. low constraint sentence completion
TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: left anterior cerebral artery (MCA) infarction
We can see changes in people’s language after their brains are damaged.
What are some examples of brain damage (language-related) that neurodegeneration can lead to?
- non-fluent progressive aphasia
- fluent progressive aphasia
- logopenic progressive aphasia
Describe non-fluent progressive aphasia.
It results in slow, distorted, agrammatic speech production. It begins with subtle changes - it follows a progressive course.
The patient will experience phonological and grammatical errors in spontaneous speech. However, single-word comprehension is well preserved.
TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: primary tauopathy [FTD-Tau]
Describe fluent progressive aphasia.
It results in a normal-sounding speech rate, but the production of empty content. It begins with subtle word-finding changes.
The ability to use generic words and pronouns in spontaneous speech is retained, but there are profound single word comprehension difficulties.
LOCATION OF PATHOLOGY: anterior temporal regions
TYPICAL PATHOLOGIES: TDP-43 proteinopathy [FTG-TDP]
Describe logopenic progressive aphasia.
It begins with subtle word-finding changes, and progresses to the poverty of speech output.
You get occasional errors in syntax and phonology, and you also get poor sentence repetition.
The pathology involves the posterior perisylvian region.
TYPICAL PATHOLOGY: Alzheimer’s disease
