Neurolinguistics

Neurolinguistics is an old term for psycholinguistics. In 18th

century the relationship between language and human brain is
called Neurolinguistics.

Neurolinguistics is the study of neural mechanism in the

human brain that controls acquisition, Production &
comprehension.

Science concerned with the human brain mechanisms

underlying the comprehension, production and abstract
knowledge of language, be it spoken, signed or written.

Neurolinguistics : linkage between language and brain= The

branch of linguistics that explores how the brain encodes
language.
 Neurolinguistics
 The study of relationship between language, structure and
functioning of the brain.

 It is study of the neural mechanisms in the human brain

that control the comprehension, production and
acquisition of language.

 It studies the physiological mechanisms by which the brain

processes information related to the language.
Parts of brain

Left Right
Hemisphere Hemisphere
Left Hemisphere
Aphasia
Aphasia is defined as an impairment of language function
due to localized brain damage that leads to difficulty in
understanding and producing linguistic forms.

It is inability to understand or produce speech, as a result

of brain damage

The most common cause of aphasia is a stroke (when a

blood vessel in the brain is blocked or bursts), though
traumatic head injuries from violence or an accident may
have similar effects.
Broca’s Area :
In (1860) it is described as the anterior speech cortex ,
motor aphasia or more usually as Broca’s area.

Broca's area was discovered by a French neurosurgeon

named Paul Broca. He reported to this specific part of the
brain was related to extreme difficulty in producing
speech.

It was noted that damage to the right hemisphere had no

such effect.

This finding was first used to argue that language ability

must be located in the left hemisphere and since then has
been treated that Broca’s area is crucially involved in the
production of speech
It deals with the production of language. It is in the frontal
lobe.

Frontal lobe
It is the part of the brain that controls important cognitive
skills in humans, such as emotional expression, problem
solving, memory, language, judgment, and sexual behaviors. It
is, in essence, the “control panel” of our personality and our
ability to communicate

It is a part of the human brain placed in the frontal lobe of the

left (in most right-handed individuals) hemisphere.

This has been proven in studies of such individuals who

suffered an injury to Broca’s area lost the ability to form
grammatical sentences and to use syntax in general.

This is why it is assumed that Broca’s area is responsible for

these functions.
 It is characterized by a largely reduced amount of speech,
inaccurate articulation and slow, often effortful speech.
 What is said often consists almost entirely of lexical
morphemes( e.g. nouns, verbs). The frequent omission of
functional morphemes (e.g. articles, prepositions) and
inflections (e.g. plural-s, past tense ed) has led to the
characterization of this type of aphasic speech as
agrammatic. In agrammatic speech, the grammatical
markers are missing.

 As I eggs and eat and drink coffee breakfast.

 However, this type of disorder can be quite severe and

result in speech with lots of hesitations and really long
pauses. Some have lots of difficulty in articulating single
words.
Wernicke’s Area

In (1870) it is called posterior speech cortex or Wernicke’s area.

Ten years later, Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist, discovered

another part of the brain . It deals with the comprehension of
language.

It is in the temporal lobe on the left side of the brain., this one
involved in understanding language, in the posterior portion of the left
temporal lobe.

Temporal lobe

It is located at the bottom of the brain ,there is one temporal

lobe on each side of the brain, in close to the ears. This lobe is
the location of the primary auditory cortex, which is important
for interpreting the sounds and language we hear.
People who had a lesion at this location could speak, but
their speech was often incoherent and made no sense.

It is a part of the human brain located at the boundary of

the temporal and parietal lobes of the left hemisphere.
Patients who suffered damage to Wernicke’s area are
unable to recall the correct content words.
 The type of language disorder that results in difficulties in the
auditory comprehension is sometimes called “sensory aphasia”
but is more commonly known as Wernicke’s aphasia.

 Someone suffering from this disorder can actually produce very

fluent speech which is, however, often difficult to make sense
of.

 As I can’t talk all of the things I do , and part of the part I can go
alright, but I can't tell from the other people.

 Difficulty in finding the correct word, sometimes referred to as

anomia, also happens in Wernicke,s aphasia.

 To overcome their word finding difficulties, speakers use

different strategies such as trying to describe objects or talking
about their purpose, as in the thing to put cigarettes in (for
ashtray).
Arcuate Fasciculus: It transfer comprehension talk to
Broca’s area.

It is the bridge between the Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area.

The arcuate fasciculus (Latin: curved bundle) is a bundle

of axons that connects Broca's area and Wernicke's area in
the brain. It is an association fiber tract connecting temporal
cortex and inferior frontal lobe