Chp 8: Language

Question 1

What is Language?

Answer 1

includes the notion that the combination of sounds are guided by rules and apply to other sensory modalities – gestures, touches, and visual images

The word comes from langue, Anglo- French word for “tongue”, referring to language as use of sound combinations for communication

Question 2

Components of Language (7)

Answer 2

• phonemes
• morphemes
• lexicon
• syntax
• semantics
• prosody
• discourse

Question 3

phonemes

Answer 3

Fundamental language sounds

Question 4

morphemes

Answer 4

Smallest meaningful units of
words (undoing)

Question 5

lexicon

Answer 5

collect of all the words in a language

like dictionary

Question 6

syntax

Answer 6

rules of grammar

Question 7

semantics

Answer 7

Meaning of words and sentences

Question 8

Prosody

Answer 8

Vocal intonations
Varying:

• Stress, pitch, rhythm

Question 9

Discourse

Answer 9

Stringing sentences together to form a meaningful narrative

Question 10

Components of Language - Production (5)

Answer 10

• Air is exhaled from lungs
• drives oscillations of vocal folds/vocal chords
• located in larynx. also referred to as the voice box

Sound energy from larynx, filtered by vocal tract, produce final sound output

Oscillations:
- 100 Hz – men
- 150 – 250 Hz - women
- 500 Hz – children

Question 11

Core Language Skills (4)

Answer 11

• Categories
• Labelling categories
• Sequencing behaviours
• Mimic

Question 12

Categories (3)

Answer 12

• Designation of certain qualities to specific concepts
• Example: Plant category or animal category
• Makes it easier to perceive and retrieve information

Question 13

Labelling categories

Answer 13

Attachment of words to different concepts

Question 14

Sequencing behaviours

Answer 14

In humans, this would be ordering vocalizations and hand movements that are used in language

Question 15

Mimic (3)

Answer 15

Infants
- Prefer to listen to speech
- Can make sounds used in all languages

Mirror neurons in the frontal cortex may help children mimic sounds they hear

Question 16

Broca aphasia background (4)

Answer 16

• Disorders of production
• Important to remember that patients may present unique symptoms that may not fit neatly into classification schemes
• may not represent the classical presentation of Broca’s aphasia
• should consider generalizations as a starting point for considering the brain and language

Question 17

Broca Aphasia Features (9)

Answer 17

• Non-fluent aphasia
• expressive aphasia (meaningful)
• comprehension is good
• speech production is poor
• telegraphic speech
• include content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives)
• omit function words (articles, pronouns, conjunctions)
• pause to search for words, repeat “overlearned” things, difficulty repeating words
• anomia: difficulty “finding” words

Question 18

Cerebral Vascular Accident (Stroke) (2) types

Answer 18

Interruptions of blood flow to the brain
- Hemorrhagic Stroke (more rare)
- Ischemic Stroke

Question 19

Infarct (stroke)

Answer 19

the region the tissue is destroyed

Question 20

Hemorrhagic Stroke

Answer 20

hemorrhage/blood leaks into brain tissues

Question 21

Ischemic Stroke

Answer 21

Clot stops blood supply to an area of the brain

Question 22

Core Warning Signs of Stroke

Answer 22

Approximately 25-50% of people who experience a stroke will present aphasia as a primary symptom

Question 23

Hand gestures (3)

Answer 23

Important to communication

e.g. increasing no. of studies look at teach gesture

Increasing comprehension in material
Neural rehabilitation

Question 24

Constraint-induced aphasia therapy

Answer 24

If they want to communicate, must force them to use oral communication

Vs. Multimodal communication

= Suggest they are equally efficacious

Question 25

Examining a genetic basis for an Inherited Speech and Language Disorder (5)

Answer 25

- KE family - Severe speech disorder in about half of the family - Deficit in sequencing articulation patterns - Genetic mutation of the gene FOXP2 – a gene for language? - Brain abnormalities (Sensory areas has an increase in size and function Motor production areas has a decrease)

Question 26

What does the FOXP2 do? (4)

Answer 26

When is expressed in the brain, is a transcription factor - Element control whether other genes are turned on - Regulate expression of more than 300 genes - song-learning - ultrasonic vocalisation - singing

Question 27

Wernicke aphasia (6)

Answer 27

Fluent aphasia - comprehension is poor - speech production is good - memories of sounds that make up words - Mixture of clarity and gibberish, undisturbed by sound of own or other’s speech - correct words in incorrect sequence, incorrect word similar to correct word

Question 28

Wernicke's area

Answer 28

Back half of superior temporal gyrus

Question 29

Broca's area

Answer 29

inferior frontal gyrus

Question 30

Connection Between Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas

Answer 30

Arcuate fasciculus: Bundle of fibres that connect the 2 areas

Question 31

Wernicke-Geschwind Model of Language Processing

Answer 31

Arcuate fasciculus - “bow-shaped bundle” - white matter tract between Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area

Question 32

Conduction Aphasia (5)

Answer 32

What happens if the 2 regions are disconnected? - speech is fluent - comprehension is good - little difficulty expressing their own thoughts, - difficulty repeating words (can't get forwarded to Broca's) - Repetition substitutes/omits words, cannot repeat function, nonsense words, polysyllabic words, paraphasic errors

Question 33

Repeating a spoken word: process (5)

Answer 33

1. Auditory Cortex 2. Wernicke's Area - to repeat the need 3. Arcuate fasciculus 4. Broca's area 5. Motor cortex - move mouth, lips, efferent, afferent signals

Question 34

Rebecca: reading after stroke

Answer 34

Alexia: without reading Affects the left angular gyrus - Spatial cognition - Lang - Memory - Numbers

Question 35

Repeating a written word: process (6)

Answer 35

1. Primary visual cortex - have to look at the word 2. angular gyrus - information to be deconstructed, and connect them to the auditory 3. Wernicke's area - for comprehension 4. Arcuate fascicles 5. Broca's area 6. Motor cortex

Question 36

Learning to write after brain injury (Rebecca)

Answer 36

Agraphia: without writing, lost ability Damage: left parietal lobe, inability to rmb how to spell words