NEUROLINGUISTICS
Linguistic has always been to give a full account of how language
works, and this account must include an explanation of how the human brain
operate to generate language. Another subfield of linguistic is neurolinguistic,
it is concerned principally with the intersection of linguistic theory and
brain structure. Today, neurolinguistics concern themselves with the number of
issues that relate to the neurological basis of language: the brain’s anatomy,
the species-specificity of language, and the relationship between language and
consciousness.
A.
The
Human Brain
The
brain is the most complex organ of the body. It lies under the skull and
consists of approximately 10 billion nerve cells (neurons) and billions of fibers
that interconnect them. The surface of the brain is the cortex, often
called “Gray Matter”, consisting of billions of neurons. The cortex is the
decision-making organ of the body. It is the storehouse of our memories.
Somewhere, in this Gray Matter resides the grammar that represents our
knowledge of language.
The
brain is composed of cerebral hemispheres, one on the right and
one on the left, joined by the corpus callosum, a network of two million
fibers, the corpus callosum allows the two hemispheres of the brain to
communicate with each other. Without this system of connections, the two
hemispheres would operate independently. In general, the left hemisphere
controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left
side. If you point with your right hand, the left hemisphere is responsible for
your action. Similarly, sensory information from the right side of the body
like right ear, right hand, right visual field. Is received by the left
hemisphere of the brain, and sensory input to the left side of the body is
received by the right hemisphere. This is referred to as contralateral
brain function.
gambar
bagian otak.
B.
Localization, Brain and Language
In
the early nineteenth century, Franz Joseph Gall proposed the theory of Localization,
which is the idea that different human cognitive abilities and behaviors are
localized in specific parts of the brain. In light of our current knowledge
about the brain, some of Gall’s particular views are amusing. For example, he
proposed that language is located in the frontal lobes of the brain because as
a young man he had noticed that the most articulate and intelligent of his
fellow students had protruding eyes, which
he believed reflected overdeveloped brain material. Gall’s view that the brain
is not uniform mass, and that linguistic and other cognitive capacities are
function of localized brain areas, has been upheld by scientific investigation
of Aphasia and other disorders, and more recently by functional brain imaging.
Specific locations of the brain are involved
with specific aspects of speech or language. Linguistics are very cautious
about asserting that any of the areas of the brain are actually associated with
language. Although they are obviously associated with speech. A strong possibility
exists that language rules depend on activity in deeper areas of the brain, and
that the speech complex that includes Broca’s (represent some sort of
interruption in the actual production of speech sounds) and wernicke’s areas is
made up of relatively superficial pathway for turning language into Speech.
1.
Aphasia
The study of aphasia has been an important area of research in
understanding the relationship between brain and language. Aphasia is the name
for a variety of speech losses and speech problems that are related to dysfunctions
of the brain itself. Aphasia is the neurological term for any language disorder
that results from brain damage caused by disease or trauma.
2.
Types
of Aphasia
a.
Broca’s
Aphasia
In 1864 the French surgeon Paul Broca proposed that language is
localized to the left hemisphere of the brain, and more specifically to the
front Part of the left hemisphere called Broca’s Area. At a scientific meeting
in Paris, he claimed that we speak with the left hemisphere. Broca’s Finding
was based on a study of his patients who suffered language deficits after brain
injury. In 1865, Broca’s Further claimed that Aphasia results only when damage
occurs on the left side of the brain.
Patient with injuries to Broca’s area may have Broca’s aphasia.
Broca’s aphasia is characterized by labored speech and certain kinds of word
finding difficulties, but it’s primarily a disorder that affects the person’s
ability to form sentence with the rules of syntax. One of the most notable
characteristics of Broca’s aphasia is that the language is often agrammatic,
meaning that it frequently lack articles, prepositions, pronouns, and auxiliary
verbs. For now, Broca’s aphasics also typically omit inflections such as the
past tense suffix –ed or the third person singular verb ending –s. here is an
excerpt of a conversation between a patient with Broca’s aphasia and a doctor.
Example:
Doctor: “could you tell me what you have been doing in the
hospital?”
Patient: “Yes, Sure. me go, er, uh, P.T (physical therapy) none o’cot, speech…. two times….
read… r… ripe… rike… uh write….practice….get…ting… better.
b.
Wernicke’s
Aphasia
In 1874, Carl Wernicke a German neurologist announced the discovery
of a second major speech area. Now called Wrenicke’s
area it has since been determined that Broca’s and Wernicke’s are connected
by a long track of nerves. Wernicke’s Aphasia is markedly different from
Broca’s. Speech is fluent. Pronunciation is unimpaired, and speech sounds more
or less normal until it’s meaning is considered. Wernicke’s area, language
then, is lateralized to the left hemisphere. Lateralization is the term used to
refer to any cognitive function that is localized primarily on one side of the
brain or the other.
Wernicke’s aphasia produce fluent speech with good intonation, and
they may largely adhere to the rules of syntax. However, their language is
often semantically incoherent. People with damage to wernicke’s area difficulty
naming objects presented to them and also in choosing words in spontaneous speech.
They may make numerous lexical errors (word substitutions), often production
Jargon and nonsense words, as in the following example:
“The only thing that I can
say again is madder or modder fish sudden fishing sewed into the accident to
miss in the purdles”.
The kinds of word substitutions that aphasic patients produce also
tell us about how words are organized in the mental lexicon. Sometimes the
substituted words a similar to the intended words in their sounds, for example:
Pool might be substitute for tool, sable for table, or crucial for crucible.
c.
Hescl’s
Area
Hescl’s area is principally associated with the nerve pathways of
hearing. And damage to it results in what is called word deafness a form of Aphasia in which the listener cannot
understand words spoken to him or her. The damage to Heschl’s area has
apparently prevented sounds from entering the speech complex at the right point
or in the right way. Speech cannot be understood, even though it may be “heard”
as sound. People suffering from word deafness may have no difficulty at all in
understanding written language.
3.
Speech
and Species
Researchers
have compared the human brain to the chimpanzee’s to determine whether the
chimpanzee is equipped for speech. The chimpanzee’s brain is similar enough to
the human brain for psychologists to have considerable trouble telling them
apart. In several respects, however, differences exist that relate directly to
the capacity for speech.
Chimpanzees
have no perceptible Broca’s area: the area equivalent to Wernicke’s area is
small and symmetrical in both hemisphere, and there are no nerves bridges to connect the two. In other word, the chimpanzee
apparently lacks entirely what in the human are known to be the major speech
areas of the brain. This is not to say that chimpanzees are incapable of
vocalizations. Chimpanzee, like other animals, are capable of a wide range of
communicative noises, each of which may be associated with different types of
message.
Humans are
directly uniquely equipped for speech with a brain that contains anatomical specializations
found in no other species. Even though they lack human unique capacity for
speech because the neurolinguist has no idea of what the anatomical correlates
of language organization might be, the matter must rest there for the moment
4.
Language
and Consciousness
·
Figure
17-2, The left visual field of both eyes is connected to the right hemisphere.
And the right visual field to the left
hemisphere. and the right visual field to the left hemisphere.
Optic connections
|
LEFT FIELD
|
|
RIGHT FIELD
|
|
RIGHT HEMISPHERE
|
|
OPTIK NERVE
CROSSING
|
|
LEFT HEMISPHERE
|
·
Figure
17-3 the left field is perceived solely with right eye through the right visual
area and the right field is seen only with the left eye through the left visual
area.
Optic connections after severing the opticcrossing between the two
sides of the brain.
|
RIGHT FIELD
|
|
LEFT FIELD
|
·
Figure
17-4 saw the word band only because the brain had been split so that the two
halves were independent of each other, hat could not be transmitted to the left
side, where speech is produced, and so hat could not be talked about.
Perception of Hatband with optic crossing severed
|
BAND
|
|
HAT
|
|
BAND
|
|
HAT
|
NEUROLINGUISTCS
By 13 group :
SYAHRAENI FITRIAH ARSYAD
20400115054
YULIANA IBRAHIM
20400115077
English
Education Department
Tarbiyah and
Teaching Faculty
State Islamic
University of Alauddin Makassar
2016/2017
07/08/17
