speech and language Flashcards
what is phonetics?
how speech sounds are produced
the acoustic result of speech articulation
what is phonology?
how sounds are used to make words
the functions of the sounds within a particular language
what are the differences between written and spoken language?
written:
- discrete words separated by spaces
- usually complete with correct spelling
- opportunity to skip, skim or re-read
- needs more thought to make sure it is comprehensible
- more explicit
spoken:
- continuous sequence of sounds, usually without “spaces”
- often damaged, interrupted, parts mumbled
- aim to convey information and also establish the level of the relationship (building communications)
what are plosive sounds? what types are there? examples?
plosive sounds are like stop sounds - stop air from flowing
- bilabials - p,b,m
- alveolars - t,d,n
- velars - k,g,ng
*m,n,ng are nasals
give examples of fricative sounds.
- voiced and voiceless ‘th’
- f, v
- s, sh
narrow the airway but not fully
give examples of affricate sounds.
- ch, j
- sh, seiZure
define dialect, sociolect and idiolect.
dialect - particular form of language specific to a group/region
sociolect - dialect of a particular social class
idiolect - speech habits of a particular person
what are the five components of language?
Phonology - use of sounds to make meaningful syllables and words
Morphology - the structure of words
Syntax - the rules for putting together a series of words to form sentences
Semantics - word and sentence meanings for what is spoken
Pragmatics - social use of language
what is prosody?
the pitch, intensity and timing* of speech
*stress-timed or syllable-timed language
what are some of the non-acoustic signals which help us to understand speech/language?
- lip reading
- facial mood and emotion
- culturally grounded gestures
- modifying gestures
- body language
- stress and emphasis
what is lateralisation?
the concept that the two hemispheres of the brain function slightly differently and there is a proposed ‘dominant’ hemisphere
In >90% right-handed people and 70% of left-handed people, the left hemisphere is dominant.
left handed individuals tend to recover language functions faster after injury than right-handed people as a result.
Which area of the brain is responsible for perception of spoken language?
primary auditory cortex
which area of the brain is responsible for comprehension of spoken language?
Wernicke’s area
what is the function of Broca’s area?
- production of speech
- initiation of speech via connections to supplementary motor area
what is the arcuate fasiculus?
association fibre bundle connecting Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas
which area of the brain is responsible for comprehension of written language?
Angular gyrus
auditory version of word is stimulated in Wernicke’s area by angular gyrus which then sends info to Broca’s area
what is aphasia?
a disturbance of language formation and comprehension caused by localised brain dysfunction.
the most common causes are traumatic brain injury or stroke. others include tumours, degenerative dementias, de-myelinating disorders and infections.
how is Broca’s aphasia different to Wernicke’s aphasia?
speech in Br is non-fluent, effortful and spontaneous while in W it is fluent with normal prosody and articulation.
comprehension is normal in Br but impaired in W
repetition is impaired in both
naming is impaired in both but in Br it can be improved with cues
reading aloud is impaired in both
writing is impaired in Br with poorly formed letters while in W the letters are well-formed but the content is meaningless
the typical localisation of a Br lesion is left-post-inf. frontal cortex while in W it is sup-post temporal region including supra marginal and angular gyro commonly
typical Br pathology arises from stroke of upper division of left middle cerebral artery while typical W pathology is a stoke of the lower division of the left middle cerebral artery
what is agraphia?
loss or impairment of writing ability, caused by acquired brain disease
broad classifications are:
- aphasic - agraphia accompanies aphasia
- nonphasic - weakness and disorders of movement, visuospatial function and conversion symptoms
describe micrographia and hypergraphia.
micrographia is either consistently small writing or progressively smaller writing
hypergraphia is extensive and compulsive writing
micrographia may be linked to Parkinsoniasm, corticospinal lesions or thalami-mesencephalic infarcts.
hypergraphia may be associated with schizophrenia, mania, interictal partial epilepsy, bilateral frontal injury
what is alexia?
a type of sensory aphasia defined as an acquired inability to read. it is also known as word blindness, text blindness or visual aphasia
describe the subtypes of alexia (8) and corresponding common lesion sites.
surface dyslexia - read by sound, makes regularization errors, can read non-words. usual lesion site = left medial temporal lobe
phonological dyslexia - reads by sight, difficulties with suffixes, unable to read non-word. usual lesion site = left temporo-parietal lobe
deep dyslexia - reading by either route damaged, semantic errors. usual lesion site = extensive left temporo-parietal lobe
global - slow or inaccurate letter naming, can recognise letters. lesion site = left ventrolateral occipitotemporal or connection and splenium of corpus callosum
