Wk10 - Language Flashcards
What does aphasia mean
Aphasia is a term used to refer to language disorders.
- Comes from greek a-phatos, meaning “unspeakable”.
What is a phoneme
A Phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that makes a difference in meaning.
eg. Dog has /d/ /o/ /g/
What is a morpheme
Morpheme is the smallest unit of language that HAS meaning
eg. “Unbreakable” has Un - Break - and able
“Talks” has talk - and s
What are Semantics
The meanings of words and sentences
What is Syntax
How words are combined to construct phases and sentences
What are three signs of an aphasia
Paraphasia - Substitution of a word with a sound, incorrect word or an unintended word.
Neologism - Creation of an entirely novel word
Nonfluent-speech - The state of talking with considerable effort.
What are other impairments that may accompany a patient with aphasia?
Agraphia/Dysgraphia - Inability to write or an impairment of writing.
Alexia/Dyslexia - An inability to read/impairment of reading.
Lichtheim’s _____? What is it and its components
Lichtheims House proposed a disconnection model of aphasia.
- Features dividing individuals understanding and production of language in three distinct parts, as seen below.
A = ‘auditory’- auditory word form area
M = ‘motor’ – spoken word form area
B = ‘concept’ area
A roughly = Wernicke’s area
M roughly = Broca’s area
Describe the Wernicke-Geschwind model of language when a word or sentence is HEARD
Word or sentence > Auditory Cortex > Wernicke’s Area (for decoding info) > Arcuate Fasciculus > Broca’s area (speech plan) > Adjacent Motor Cortex > Relevant articulatory muscles.
Describe the Wernicke-Geschwind model of language when a word or sentence is READ
Visual info > Visual Cortex > Angular Gyrus > Wernicke’s area (arouses auditory pattern there) > (Auditory form trans thru) Arcuate Fasiculus > Broca’s area > Motor Cortex
Where can Broca’s area be found? What are its functions?
- It is located in the left frontal lobe.
- More specifically the left inferior frontal convolution
- Essential for speech production. Works with motor cortex.
Fun Facts:
- Discovered by Pierre Paul Broca
- Anterior to the portion of the motor cortex that controls the muscles to with with speech production i.e throat, tongue, jaw and lips.
Broca’s aphasia? what are its other names, signs and what does damage to area do.
- Also called production, non-fluent, expressive and motor aphasia.
- Damage is thought to lead to the destruction of the movement required to prod. speech.
SIGNS:
Slow effortful and deliberate speech.
- Telegraphic speech: Simple grammatical structure (“make dinner” “like this”).
- Phonemic Paraphasias: Difficulty find and prod. the right phoneme or word. Subs phonemes with similarity (pill instead of spill).
- Red. Verb. Flu.
- Perseveration: Rep. prod. of the same utterance. even when not appropriate.
- Auto-speech persevered (greeting, swear words, common expressions.)
- Hemiplegia: Common. partial paralysis of one side of body (usually right because the damage oft. ext. to nearby moto cortex in left hem.)
- Language comprehension: Mostly intact. Diff. comprehending small function words (i.e That’s my aunt’s brother. Would that be a man or a woman? The lion was killed by the tiger. Which animal died?)
Where can Wernicke’s area be found and what are its functions?
- Wernicke’s area can be found in the left temporal lobe
- Involved with the comprehension of written and spoken language.
Wernicke’s aphasia? what are its other names, signs and what does damage to area do.
- A.K.A Fluent aphasia
- Generally results from injury in the vicinity of Wernicke’s area in the left superior temporal cortex posterior to the primary auditory cortex. This region sugg. to be the centre of memory for the sounds of speech. Acts as bridge between. auditory reps of words and meanings.
SIGNS:
Severely impacted ability to understand others and owns speech.
- Speech production: Fluent and grammatical, no effort or distress. pattern, rhythm and pronunciation all normal.
- Jargon words.
- Semantic Paraphasias: Uses words with similar semantics. (e.g look instead of show)
- Neologisms: Distortion of two or more sounds within a word. Or invention of novel words.
- Circumlocutory speech: Talks around topic or word. (e.g man who sweeps and cleans up)
- Impaired ability to repeat word.
- No Hemiplegia
- Can understand facial expressions.
- Doesn’t understand difficulties.
What are the causes and symptoms of conduction aphasia?
From damage to association fibres in the inferior parietal lobe which norm. connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas. (Arcuate Fasiculus)
SIGNS:
- Normal speech comprehension and prod.
- Deficits in repetition of non-meaningful words and word sequences.
- Preserved ability to repeat colloquialisms and phrases.
Doctor: Bicycle.
Patient: Bicycle.
Doctor: Hippopotamus.
Patient: Hippopotamus.
Doctor: Blaynge.
Patient: I didn’t get it.
Doctor: Up and down.
Patient: Up and down.
Doctor: Yellow, big, south.
Patient: Yellen… Can’t get it.
What is the process that an individual undergoes with Conduction aphasia
They hear a word > Prod mental rep. of object > Vis. info sent from visual association cortex > (bypasses Arcuate Fasiculus) Broca’s area
If can’t produce mental image of word, can’t repeat it.
Doctor: Bicycle.
Patient: Bicycle.
Doctor: Hippopotamus.
Patient: Hippopotamus.
Doctor: Blaynge.
Patient: I didn’t get it.
Doctor: Up and down.
Patient: Up and down.
Doctor: Yellow, big, south.
Patient: Yellen… Can’t get it.
