Speech and Language

What to Learn More About Language Acquistion?

• Steven Pinker is a professor at Harvard who is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for his books “How the Mind Works” and “The Stuff of Thought”

Theories on Language Acquisition

• 1. Nativism: born with all the words and related morphology, syntax, and phonology that we will ever acquire

• 2. Generativism: born with the three, basic concepts but acquire words from experience – chunking

• 3. Motherese: learn words and the three, basic concepts from parents

Brain Control of Speech and Language

Temporal and Occipital Lobes + Primary Motor and Sensory

Hemispheric Localization

• Language and speech centers primarily located in the left hemisphere

Neuroanatomical Hypothesis For This Hemispheric “Imbalance”

Conservation of Speech and Language Across Species

Damage to These Neural Centers Results in Aphasias

Type Speech Skills

Comprehension

Ability to Repeat

Area Damaged

Broca’s Nonfluent, cumbersome

Mostly conserved

Impaired Broca’s area

Wernicke’s Highly fluent, articulate

Impaired Impaired Wernicke’s area

Conduction Fluent, semi-articulate

Mostly conserved

Impaired Left superior temporal and supramarginal gyrus

Global Nonfluent Impaired Impaired Perisylvian Fissure

Examples of Broca’s vs. Wernicke’s Aphasia

• Broca’s: “O, yea. Det’s a boy an’ a girl..an’…a…car….house..light po’….dog an’ a….boat. Ndet’s a ….mm..a…cofee, an’ reading. Det’s a…mm….a…det’s a boy fishin’”

• Wernicke’s: “Ah, yes, it’s, ah…several things. It’s a girl….uncurl…on a boat. A dog…is another dog…long’s…on a boat. The lady, it’s a young lady. This…a tree! A boat. No, over in here…a cake….

Neural Map of These Aphasias

Even Deaf Individuals Can Have Aphasias

Three Components of Speech and Language

• 1. Morphology: rules for combining words to form bigger words– e.g.: handi+cap vs. handi+cap+able

• 2. Syntax: rules for combining words to form sentences and phrases– e.g.: nouns+verb+direct object+indirect object

• 3. Phonology: rules for combining sounds to produce words, phrases, and sentences