Neurolinguistics
• the study of the biological and neurological basis of language
• 3 questions:
o Nature of the human brain?
o Nature of human language?
o Relationship between brain and language?
Language and Brain
• Human language = species-specific
• Functional and anatomical/structural asymmetry between two hemispheres of the
brain = species-specific
Anatomy of the brain
1. Two hemispheres
2. Bridge = corpus callosum
3. Contra-lateral functioning
• Different functions localised in different parts of the brain / fulfilled by different parts
of the brain (localisation)
• Brain consists of different modules which fulfil different functions (modularity)
• Some brain functions performed (mainly) by one of the two hemispheres
(lateralisation)
• Phrenology (Gall, 1800s)
• Language = left lateralised (controlled mainly by left hemisphere)
• Evidence for left lateralisation of language?
o Children with brain lesions / hemispherectomies
§ Can be removed due to extreme seizures
o Split-brain patients
o Dichotic listening tasks
o Aphasia
§ Damage to different parts of the brain = different symptoms
§ Sometimes language abilities not affected
§ Sometimes only language abilities affected = aphasia
, § Damage to different parts of L hemisphere = different language
disorders/deficits
Different types of language deficits
• dysgraphia – writing more problematic than reading
• dyslexia – reading more problematic than writing
• Developmental dyslexia vs acquired dyslexia
Different types of aphasia
• Broca’s aphasia = agrammatic aphasia
o ↓ lang production; function words + morphemes; syntax
• Wernicke’s aphasia = jargon aphasia
o ↓ lang comprehension; content words + morphs; semantics; fluent but
semantically incoherent
What we can learn from aphasia (ctd)
• Wernicke’s + Broca’s: organisation of mental lexicon (substitutions)
o If they want to say “Chair” they say: table, cheese, thing sit
o If they want to say “weigh” they say: measure, slay, what with scale
• Also: Word finding problems (anomia) and tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Language Autonomy
• Most cognitive skills related to general intelligence (IQ)
• Language skills too?
• If so, expect correlation between every person’s
o [IQ]
o [his/her language skills]…
• In some people, there is dissociation between language abilities and IQ:
• Children with Specific Language Impairment
o Problems with language only (acquisition, and (i) productions or (ii)
production + comprehension), cognitive skills normal
• Language savants
o Very low IQ, no problems with language
o World most known language savants is Christopher
§ Poor hand-eye coordination, ↓ problem solving , soc. maladjusted
§ 16 languages
• the study of the biological and neurological basis of language
• 3 questions:
o Nature of the human brain?
o Nature of human language?
o Relationship between brain and language?
Language and Brain
• Human language = species-specific
• Functional and anatomical/structural asymmetry between two hemispheres of the
brain = species-specific
Anatomy of the brain
1. Two hemispheres
2. Bridge = corpus callosum
3. Contra-lateral functioning
• Different functions localised in different parts of the brain / fulfilled by different parts
of the brain (localisation)
• Brain consists of different modules which fulfil different functions (modularity)
• Some brain functions performed (mainly) by one of the two hemispheres
(lateralisation)
• Phrenology (Gall, 1800s)
• Language = left lateralised (controlled mainly by left hemisphere)
• Evidence for left lateralisation of language?
o Children with brain lesions / hemispherectomies
§ Can be removed due to extreme seizures
o Split-brain patients
o Dichotic listening tasks
o Aphasia
§ Damage to different parts of the brain = different symptoms
§ Sometimes language abilities not affected
§ Sometimes only language abilities affected = aphasia
, § Damage to different parts of L hemisphere = different language
disorders/deficits
Different types of language deficits
• dysgraphia – writing more problematic than reading
• dyslexia – reading more problematic than writing
• Developmental dyslexia vs acquired dyslexia
Different types of aphasia
• Broca’s aphasia = agrammatic aphasia
o ↓ lang production; function words + morphemes; syntax
• Wernicke’s aphasia = jargon aphasia
o ↓ lang comprehension; content words + morphs; semantics; fluent but
semantically incoherent
What we can learn from aphasia (ctd)
• Wernicke’s + Broca’s: organisation of mental lexicon (substitutions)
o If they want to say “Chair” they say: table, cheese, thing sit
o If they want to say “weigh” they say: measure, slay, what with scale
• Also: Word finding problems (anomia) and tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Language Autonomy
• Most cognitive skills related to general intelligence (IQ)
• Language skills too?
• If so, expect correlation between every person’s
o [IQ]
o [his/her language skills]…
• In some people, there is dissociation between language abilities and IQ:
• Children with Specific Language Impairment
o Problems with language only (acquisition, and (i) productions or (ii)
production + comprehension), cognitive skills normal
• Language savants
o Very low IQ, no problems with language
o World most known language savants is Christopher
§ Poor hand-eye coordination, ↓ problem solving , soc. maladjusted
§ 16 languages
