英语语言学Chapter 15 Language and the Bra

1、 The study of the relationship between language and the brain The case of Phineas Gage: a huge metal rod had gone through the front part of Mr. Gages brain, his language abilities were unaffected Two nearly symmetrical halves, the right and left hemispheres Corpus callosum: a bundle of nerve fibers,

2、 connecting the two hemispheres cortex: supports higher brain functions, including language ; thin, folded sheet on surface of brain Brocas area: responsible for speech production (close to motor areas) Wernickes Area: responsible for speech comprehension (close to auditory areas) The motor cortex:

3、controls the movement of the muscles for articulation The arcuate fasciculus: a bundle of nerve fibers connecting Brocas area and Wernickes Area Specific aspects of language ability can be accorded specific locations in the brain Other views - pathway metaphor -Freuds steam engine metaphor -Aristotl

4、e cold sponge metaphor Tip-of the tongue: you know the word, but it just wont come to the surface Slip-of-the tongue: results in tangled expressions Slip-of-the ear: errors in hearing An impairment of language function due to localized cerebral damage which leads to difficulty in understanding and/

5、or producing linguistic forms Brocas Aphasia Identified 1861 by Paul Broca, a Parisian neurologist Also called motor aphasia Characterized by a substantially reduced amount of speech, distorted articulation and slow, often effortful speech - Wernickes aphasia -Identified 1873 by Carl Wernicke, emine

6、nt German neurologist -Results in difficulties in auditory comprehension -also called sensory aphasia Conduction aphasia: damage to the arcuate fasciculus No articulation problems Fluent, but may have disrupted rhythm because of pauses and hesitation What is heard and understood cannot be transferre

7、d to the speech production area An experimental technique: the language functions must be located in the left hemisphere Basic assumption: a signal coming in the right ear will go to the left hemisphere and a signal coming in the left ear will go to the right hemisphere right ear advantage The right

8、 hemisphere handles non-verbal sounds and the left hemisphere handles language sounds lateralization: the apparent specialization of the left hemisphere for language The lateralization process begins in early childhood During childhood, there is a period when human brain is most ready to receive and

9、 learn a particular language In 1970 13 year old girl, spent most of her life tied to a chair in small closed room Physical, sensory, social emotional deprivation After brought into care, she developed an ability to speak and understand a fairly large number of English words Provides some evidence against the notion that lang