LIN 201

1
LIN 201

• Fall 2007
• Lecture IV (4)
• Language and the Brain I

2
Announcement

• There will be no Recitations Oct. 11 and 12 --
  Eid Ul-Fitr.
• Journal Entry 1 due in your Recitation of Oct. 4
  or 5.

3
Reminders

• Quiz 1 this week in Rec All material in first
  three weeks.
• Exam I two weeks from today (9/24) in class.
• Review Session, Thurs. or Fri., 9/20-1,
  mid-afternoon, RTBA.
• Review Materials, CR, pp. 45-50.

4
Exam I item allotment (1)

• About 6 items per lecture total of about 30
  items on the exam.
• Course Information, p. 4 Bring your own 2
  pencil or black pen no erasures fill in the
  Test Form bubble.

5
More on Exam I

• Those who have documentation with the Office of
  Disability Services Email Prof. Ritchie to make
  arrangements for time and place for Exam I.

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Agenda

• 1. Review.
• 2. Lexicon and morphology.
• 3. Language and the brain.
• 4. Videotape -- The Two Brains

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Agenda

• 1. Review

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Review (1)

• 1. Language central
• 2. Linguistic knowledge --
• a. Lexicon (list, arbitrary)
• b. Phonology (list of sounds, rules)
• c. Morphology (rules e.g., -ize)
• d. Syntax (Deep and Surface Structure, rules
  e.g., Aux Movement)
• 3. Knowledge is creative, infinite in range.

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Review (2)

• 4. Linguistic knowledge is tacit (unconscious).
• 5. Language use is stimulus-free.
• 6. Language distinct from communication.
• 7. Competence vs. Performance.
• 8. Mental grammar vs. linguists grammar.
• 9. Universal Grammar vs. linguistic theory.
• 10. Grammaticality distinct from meaningfulness,
  etc.

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Agenda

• 3. Lexicon and morphology.
• a. Content and function words.
• b. Morphemes.

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Agenda

• a. Content vs. function words.
• Examples? What is the difference? What is a
  good test for deciding which is which?

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Content vs function words

• Claim Content and function words are
  represented differently in the brain.
• Evidence
• (1) The OF-test (FR, p. 75).
• (2) Brain damage (today and Wed.)
• (3) Slips of the tongue (next).
• (4) Language acquisition (next week).

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Content vs function words

• Evidence (3) Slips of the tongue.
• 1. Errors like the following occur in speech (two
  content words switched)
• Other things would expect us to lead that
• (Intended ...would lead us to expect that)
• 2. Errors like the following never occur (two
  function words switched)
• Other things to lead us would expect that...

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Agenda

• b. Morphemes.
• What is a morpheme?

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Morphemes

• Example (1)
• 1. How many morphemes in Clinton?
• 2. How many morphemes in Clintonize?

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Morphemes

• Example (2)
• 1. How many morphemes in kick?
• 2. How many morphemes in kicked?

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Agenda

• 4. Language and the Brain.
• a. The mind/brain.
• b. The brain -- some basics.
• c. Language and the brain -- general
• d. Language and the brain -- specific
• e. Video The Two Brains

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Agenda

• 2. a. The mind/brain

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Function of the brain

• The heart pumps blood.
• The kidneys process waste material.
• .
• The brain stores and processes information.

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The mind/brain

• The relationship between the mind and the brain.
• Brain (physical) a physical structure.
• Mind (abstract) thoughts, beliefs, knowledge,
  hopes, fears, ...

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Brain and mind
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Agenda

• 2.b. The brain -- some basics

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Cerebral Hemispheres

• The brain is split into two hemispheres -- left
  and right -- connected by the corpus callosum.

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(No Transcript)
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Contralateral brain function in general
(contralaterality)

• The left hemisphere controls the right side of
  the body.
• The right hemisphere controls the left side of
  the body.

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Contralateral function (contralaterality)
Vision

• The left hemisphere processes stimuli in the
  right visual field.
• The right hemisphere processes stimuli in the
  left visual field.

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(No Transcript)
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Agenda

• 2.c. Language and the brain (general) -- left
  (vs) right hemispheres

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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Claim Language is lateralized primarily to the
  left hemisphere. (For 95 of the population.)

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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Evidence (1) Brain damage in certain areas of
  the left hemisphere causes disruption of language
  (i.e., aphasia) not so for right-hemisphere
  damage.

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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Evidence (2) PET and fMRI scans of the living
  brain show much greater activity in the left
  hemisphere than in the right during language use.

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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Evidence (3) When the left hemisphere is
  removed (hemispherectomy), language is disrupted
  less so when the right hemisphere is removed.

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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Evidence (4) Split brain patients (patients who
  have had their corpus callosum cut).

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Split-brain patients
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Split-brain patients vision
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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Evidence (4) Split brain patients are able to
  name objects in the right visual field but are
  not able to name objects in the left visual field.

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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Evidence (5) Dichotic listening experiments.

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(No Transcript)
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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Evidence (5) In a dichotic listening experiment
  with linguistic stimuli, the right-ear stimulus
  over-rides the left-ear stimulus.

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Language in the left hemisphere (general)

• Ev (1) Aphasia.
• Ev (2) PET, fMRI scanning.
• Ev (3) Hemispherectomy.
• Ev (4) Split-brain patients.
• Ev (5) Dichotic listening.

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Agenda

• 2.d. Language and the brain -- Left hemisphere
  (specific) Brocas and Wernickes areas.

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Brocas and Wernickes areas (FR, p. 39)
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Lg and brain (specific)

• Claim Language function is localized primarily
  in Brocas and Wernickes areas of the brain,
  which are in the left hemisphere.

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Language in Brocas and Wernickes areas

• Evidence Effects of damage in Brocas and
  Wernickes areas of the brain.

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Language in Brocas and Wernickes areas

• Effects of damage in Brocas area.

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Cookie Theft picture
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Brocas aphasia (1)

• Response to the Cookie Theft picture
• ..cookie...fall...girl. Dishes...soap...water...
  falling. Cookies...he...downThats all.

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Brocas area and syntax (2)

• Claim Brocas area is concerned with the
  processing of syntax and function words (a, the,
  was,
• -ed, etc.) rather than lexicon.

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Brocas area and syntax (3)

• Evidence Damage in Brocas area disrupts syntax
  and function words fewer problems with lexicon.
• Example Speech of Brocas aphasics lacks
  function words.

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Language in Brocas and Wernickes areas

• Effects of damage in Wernickes area.

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Wernickes area and lexicon (1)

• Q What brought you here?
• A ..Iwas myself until the tans took something
  about the time between me and my regular time in
  that time and they took the time

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Wernickes area and lexicon (2)

• Claim Wernickes area is concerned primarily
  with the processing of lexicon rather than syntax
  and function words.

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Wernickes area and lexicon (3)

• Evidence Damage in Wernickes area disrupts
  lexicon fewer problems with syntax.
• Example Response to question.

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Summary

• 2.a. Mind/brain.
• 2.b. Brain basics.
• 2.c. Lg and brain -- left hemisphere.
• 2.d. Lg and brain -- Brocas and Wernickes areas.

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Linguistic knowledge/use

• Lexicon (arbitrariness).
• Rules.
• Deep and Surface Structure.
• Stimulus-free use.
• Acquired with little instruction.
• Located in Brocas and Wernickes areas of the
  brain.

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Videotape

• 5. The Two Brains Questions on pp. 37-39 of
  the Course Reader.