Language and the

Brain

Aji Nugroho,SS.,M.Pd
 Language in the Brain
• How is language actually stored in and
processed by the brain?
• How language is represented and processed in
the brain
• How do researchers investigate how the brain is
organized and how it works?
How is language actually stored in and
processed by the brain?

• Neurolinguistics
• The study of the neural and
electrochemical bases of language
development and use
• Pyscholingistics
• The study of the acquisition , storage,
comprehension and production of
language.
BROCA’S AREA

Angular Gyrus

Wernicke’s Area
 THE HUMAN BRAIN
• The brain is composed of neurons, nerve cells that
are the basic information processing units of the
nervous system.
• The cerebral cortex is the gray wrinkled mass that
sits over the rest of the brain and accounts for
language representation and processing.
• The longitudinal fissure separates the left and right
hemispheres of the brain.
• The corpus callosum is the bundle of nerve fibers
that connects the two hemispheres.
Longitudinal / Sylvian Fissures Gyri ( gyrus)

LEFT HEMISHPERE

HEMISHPERE
RIGHT
1. Auditory Cortex
Is responsible for receiving and identifying auditory
signals
2. Visual Cortex
It receives and interprets visual stimuli and the storage site
for pictorial image
3. Motor Cortex
It is responsible for sending signals to your muscles,
including those of your face, jaw and tongue
 3. Angular Gyrus
Allowing us to
match the spoken
form of a word with
the object it
describes

1. Broca’s Area Arcuate Fasciculus

To control the use of inflectional morphemes, like plural and past
tense markers and also the formation of words and sentences.
2. Wernicke’s Area
This section of the brain is involved in the comprehension of
words and the selection of words when producing sentences.
 The Flow of linguistic Information
A person chooses a word
from mental dictionary
Activate
Wernicke's Area
Interprets the dictionary entry,
Identifying the meaning of the
word and how to pronounce it

Broca’s Area
Determines the combination of
the various articulators to
produce sound and instructs
the motor cortex which muscles
to move
FUNCTIONS of the BRAIN HEMISPHERES
• In terms of muscle movement, each hemisphere is
responsible for half of the body – contralateral
responsibilities.
– Right hemisphere -> left side of body
– Left hemisphere -> right side of the body
• In terms of higher cognitive functions, the hemispheres
are lateralized –
– Left hemisphere -> analytic tasks
• Math, Language process, analytic reasoning,
– Right hemisphere -> recognition of complex
patterns
• Faces, Melodies, visual or spatial skills
 Language Disorders
• In 1860s, the physician Paul Broca
observed that damage to the left side of
the brain resulted in impaired language
ability while damage to the right side of the
brain did not.
• Aphasia : an inability to perceive, process,
or produce language because of physical
damage to the brain.
 Autopsy Studies
• CT Scanning (Computerized Axial
Tomography)
– Is a relatively new technique which uses a
narrow beam of X-rays to create brain images
that take the form of a series of brain slices