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Ch 12 Language and Brain 1 (1)

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16 views

Ch 12 Language and Brain 1 (1)

Uploaded by

Gizem Michaelis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LINGUISTICS II

CHAPTER 12

LANGUAGE AND BRAIN 1


Resources: The Study of Language (George
Yule 4th Edition). Language Files (Dawson and
Phelan,
1 2016, 12th Edition) plus content from
Haifa Elroqi
Neurolinguistics

• Neurolinguistics: The study of the relationship between


language and the brain.
To discover where and how the brain processes language,
we need to know where the language centers of the brain
are and how information flows between these areas.
Experimental techniques that allow us to see the brain in
action and studies of patients with language disorders play
a crucial role in neurolinguistics.
 Phineas Gage in 1848:
A rod went through his upper left cheek and out from the top
of his forehead to injure the front part of his brain. He
suffered a type of injury that no one could recover from.
However, a month later he was up and about (completely
healed)
Neurolinguistics

• Phineas P. Gage’s story. p. 157


• The medical evidence about this horrible incident
was clear. A huge metal rod had gone through the
front part of Mr. Gage’s brain, but his language
abilities were unaffected/unimpaired.
• The point of this amazing tale helps us to
conclude that while language may be located in
the brain, it clearly is not situated right at the
front.
Parts of the brain

• Most of the language centers of the brain are contained in


the cortex and we now know that the most important parts
related to language functions are in areas above the left ear.
Parts of the brain
In order to describe these parts in detail, we need to
look more closely. So,
• take a head, remove hair, scalp it
•
• disconnect the brain stem (connecting the brain to Brainstem
•
the spinal cord)
• and cut the corpus callosum (connecting the two
• hemispheres). /ˌkɔː.pəs kəˈləʊ.səm/
If we disregard a certain amount of other material, we
will basically be left with 2 parts, the left hemisphere
and the right hemisphere. (two nearly symmetrical
halves)
Parts of the brain

• If we put the right hemisphere aside for now, and place the
left hemisphere down so that we have a side view, we’ll be
looking at something close to this:
Parts of the brain

Motor cortex Arcuate fasciculus

Broca’s area

Wernicke’s area
Parts of the Brain

The shaded areas show the


general locations of the
language functions
involved in speaking and
listening.

How do we know this?


From autopsies performed
on the brains of people who
were known to have specific
language disabilities
Broca’s area

• Paul Broca, a French surgeon, reported in the 1960s that


damage to this specific part of the brain was related to extreme
difficulty in producing speech.

• It was noted that damage to the corresponding area on the


right hemisphere had no such effect.

So..
• Language ability must be located in the left hemisphere

• Broca’a area is crucially involved in the production of speech.


Wernicke’s area

• Carl Wernicke, a German doctor, reported in the 1870s that

damage to this part of the brain was found among patients who
had speech comprehension difficulties.

So..
• This confirmed once more that language ability must be located in
the left hemisphere
• Wernicke’s area is crucially involved in the understanding of
speech.
The motor cortex

• The motor cortex is an area that controls movement of the


muscles (hands, feet, arm, etc)
• Close to Broca’s area is the part of the motor cortex that
controls the articulatory muscles of the face, jaw, tongue
and larynx. Motor cortex
The arcuate fasciculus

The arcuate fasciculus /fæsˈɪ.kjə.ləs/ is a bundle of nerve


•
fibers that connects Wernicke’s area to Broca’s area. It forms
a crucial connection between Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas.
Arcuate fasciculus
The localization view

• The localization view: Specific aspects of language ability can be


accorded (given or associated with) specific locations in the brain.

• The brain activity involved in hearing a word, understanding it,


then saying it, would follow a definite pattern:

1. The word is heard and comprehended via Wernicke’s area.


2. The signal is transferred via the arcuate fasciculus to Broca’s
area. Preparations are made to produce the signal in Broca’s area
3. A signal is sent to part of the motor cortex in order to
4. physically articulate the word (produce the sounds in the word).
The localization view
The localization view

• Because we have no direct access to the process, we generally

have to rely on what we can discover through indirect methods.


• Most of these methods involve attempts to work out how the

system is working from clues picked up when the system has


problems or malfunctions.

• The tip of the tongue phenomenon


•
• Slips of the tongue
•
Slips of the ear Aphasia
•
The tip of the tongue

• The feeling that we know the word, but it just won’t come to the
surface/to our conscious mind

• Studies of this phenomenon have shown that speakers

• generally have an accurate phonological outline of the word,


• can get the initial sound correct
•
and mostly know the number of syllables in the word.
• It mainly occurs with uncommon words and names.
• It suggests that our ‘word-storage’ system may be partially organized
on the basis of some phonological information and that some words
in the store are more easily retrieved than others.
The tip of the tongue

• When we make mistakes in this retrieval process, there are often strong

phonological similarities between the target word we’re trying to say


and the mistake we actually produce.

• Fire extinguisher Fire distinguisher


• Eastern and Pacific Time Eastern and specific Time
• Mistakes of this type are sometimes referred to as malapropisms.

• Malapropisms was named after a character called Mrs. Malaprop (in a

play by Sheridan) who consistently produced ‘near-misses’ for words,


with great comic effect. (the word is an eponym)
Slips of the tongue

Another kind of speecherrorsiscommonlydescribed asa slip of the tongue


•suchas“make a long shorystort” and “usethe door to open the key” .

•
To make a long shory stort. (Instead of …. Guess?)
Use the door to open the key. (Instead of …. Guess?)
• Spoonerism – William Spooner. Read p. 161
• Most of the slips attributed to him involve the interchange
of two initial sounds.

• You have hissed all my mystery classes. (Instead of ….


Guess?)
Slips of the tongue

Any explanation?
1) The result of a sound being carried over from one word to the
next. (black bloxes) for …. Guess?
2)A sound used in one word in anticipation of its occurrence in
the next word (I need comeone to come, tup of tea)
3)Reversing - interchange of word-initial sounds (beel fetter)
4)Reversing – interchange of word-final sounds (suffering from
a stick neff =>stiff neck )
Slips of the Tongue: Spoonerism examples

 Spoonerisms (an eponym fromWilliam Spooner ): The interchange


of two sounds, usually initial, in words.
🞑 An example by Spooner:
 You have hissed all my mystery lectures.
 Spoonerisms are a result of a sound being carried over from one
word to the next. Examples:
🞑 black bloxes  black boxes, Noman numerals  Roman
numerals
🞑 Tup of tea  cup of tea, Shu flots  flu shots
🞑 Beel fetter  feel better, Stick neff  stiff neck
🞑 Loop before you leak  Look before you leap
Slips of the tongue

It has been argued that:


• slips of this type are never random,
• they never produce a phonologically unacceptable sequence,
• they indicate the existence of different stages in the
articulation of linguistic expressions.
Although the slips are mostly treated as errors of articulation, it
has been suggested that they may result from “slips of the brain”
as it tries to organize linguistic messages.
Slips of the ear

• One other type of slip may provide some clues to how the
brain tries to make sense of the auditory signal it receives.

• I’m looking for a great ape

• Why should someone be looking for a great ape in his


office.

• gray tape!
Slips of the ear

• “Gladly” the crossed-eyed bear.


• A similar type of misunderstanding seems to be behind the
child’s report that in Sunday school, everyone was singing
about a bear called ‘Gladly’ who was cross-eyed.
• The source of this slip turned out to be a line from a
religious song that went Gladly the cross I’d bear.
• I teach speech signs

• I teach speech science.


• Some of these humorous examples of slips may give us a
clue to the normal workings of the human brain as it copes
with language.
• However, some problems with language production and
comprehension are the result of much more serious
disorders in brain function. (This is next week’s topic)
HOMEWORK

Study the PAGES 162-167

26

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