Slide 1Slide 2Slide 3Slide 4The brainSlide 6APHASIAWhat causes a brain damage? VASCULAR ACCIDENTSSlide 9Slide 10VASCULAR ACCIDENTSSlide 12DIFFUSE BRAIN DAMAGESlide 14VASCULAR STROKE PATIENTSMOTORIC DEFICITS associated to a strokeA bit of history on aphasiaSlide 18SPECIFIC ON APHASIASlide 20APHASIASlide 22Slide 23Broca’s aphasia and comprehensionExample of passive sentenceAGRAMMATIC APHASIAEXAMPLES OF AGRAMMATIC SPEECHWernicke’s aphasiaSlide 29Slide 30Slide 31Slide 32Slide 33Slide 34Anomia (or anomic aphasia)For next timeDo you think there are specific parts of the brain that control speech production and speech comprehension? Mention one reason why you think that is the caseNeurolinguisticsIt is the study of neural processes underlying languageSample course map: LING 100 (foundations of linguistics)Keyconcept:descriptivegrammar vs.prescriptivegrammarWeeks 1-2Foundational processesWeeks 3-10Morphology:how languagesbuild wordsPhonetics&phonology:how languagespatternsoundsSyntax:how languagesbuildsentencesSeeing those processes in actionWeeks 11-15Sociolinguistics:how languageusers enforcesocial judgmentsFirst languageacquisition:How do humansacquirelanguage123RevisitkeyconceptNeurolinguistic:howlanguagecanchangeduetobraindamageThe brainAPHASIA 1) Aphasia is an acquired language impairment due to a focal or diffuse brain damage in the language areas 2) Not a disturbance to cognitionWhat causes a brain damage?VASCULAR ACCIDENTS•STROKE•When the blood flow does not sufficiently perfuse a certain part of the cerebral tissue, the tissue suffers from the lack of oxygenation. The result is that the neural tissue dies out. •The brain can be divided in macro regions that are perfused by specific arteries•Arteries can be blocked or their lume reduced by for example sclerotic plaques. This causes a reduced perfusion of the neural tissue of a certain artery, and therefore the death of the neural tissueVASCULAR ACCIDENTS•HEMMORRHAGE •The opposite that a stroke with the same result. When an artery brakes, the neural tissue is flooded with blood and at the same time is not perfused properly any more. The result is that the neural tissue dies out. •Main causes•High blood pressure•Penetrating head traumas (bullets etc..)•AneurysmsDIFFUSE BRAIN DAMAGE•Traumatic brain injury•General concussion of the brainThe brain is enclosed in a solid container (the skull). When the brain undergoes a concussion, the whole neural matter crashes against the solid part of the system. The neural tissue is generally damaged, including particularly the white matter.In brain concussions due to car accidents the frontal lobe is usually the most damagedVASCULAR STROKE PATIENTS•Vascular stroke patients = only aphasic speakers?•Not only. These patients present other important deficits that have always to be taken in consideration•General fatigue•Motoric deficits:• Hemiplegia•Flaccid •Spastic• Visual problems•Hemianopsia•Attentional deficits•General•Spatial NeglectMOTORIC DEFICITS associated to a stroke •Hemiplegia: The controlateral part of the body respect to the brain damage is paralyzed. The patient can suffer flaccid or spastic hemiplegia, and this can affect the hole emi-body (from the face to the lower limb).Left brain damage = right hemeplegiaRight brain damage= left hemiplegiaFor a trained eye it is immediately possible to recognize potential Aphasic speakers seeing them walking!A bit of history on aphasiaPaul Broca in 1861 described a patient “Tan” who lost the ability of articulate words.The post-mortem analysis of Tan’s brain revealed a softening of the 2nd and 3rd frontal convolutions (i.e. Broca’as area)•After that moment, the idea that the brain had specific centers for language was explored with a large variety of studies.SPECIFIC ON APHASIA•Type of aphasia•Broca’s•Wernicke’s•Conduction•Global aphasia•Anomic•Degree of the deficit•Minimal to SevereAPHASIABROCA’S APHASIA (disturbance of language, NOT of communication)Lesions usually in Brodmann's areas 44 and 45Language characteristics in production: -Slow effortful speech-Omission and or substitution of function words (articles, prepositions, pronouns)-Omission and or substitution of verbal morphology (io mangiare instead of io mangio). More visible in morphologically rich languages.-Few semantic paraphasias (I am thirsty. Can I have a glas of oil?)-More frequent phonological paraphasias (“pendle” for “candle”)Therefore so called “telegraphic speech”mild/severe Broca's aphasiaSarah ScottSarah Scott 16 m. po.Sara Scott 3 y. po.Sarah Scott 4 y. po.Broca’s aphasia and comprehension•Relatively well preserved, BUT Broca’s speakers have difficulties in comprehension as well.•Broca’s speakers comprehend correctly linear sentences (e.g., SVO) with a default word order, but they fail to comprehend more complex grammatical structures•for example passive sentencesExample of passive sentenceAGRAMMATIC APHASIAAgramm at ic aphasia generally affects the grammar of the language.Fragmentary, incomplete sentences and phrases (telegraphic speech)Fewer verbs are produced (in number of verbs), and fewer types of verbsOmissions and/or within class substitution of function words.Substitution of finite verb forms with non-finite onesLoss of comprehension (and production) of complex syntactic structures Loss of speech melodyEXAMPLES OF AGRAMMATIC SPEECHAh ... Monday ... ah, dad and P*** [himself] and dad ... hospital. Two .. .ah, doctors ... and ah ... thirty minutes .. .and yes ... ah ... hospital. And, er, Wednesday ... nine o'clock. And er Thursday, ten o'clock .. .doctors. Two doctors ... and ah ... teeth. Yeah, ... fine. Another example: M.E. Cinderella...poor...um 'dopted her...scrubbed floor, um, tidy...poor, um...'dopted...Si-sisters and mother...ball. Ball, prince um, shoe... M.E. Scrubbed and uh washed and un...tidy, uh, sisters and mother, prince, no, prince, yes. Cinderella hooked prince. (Laughs.) Um, um, shoes, um, twelve o'clock ball, finished.Wernicke’s aphasia•WERNICKE’S APHASIA• •Lesions posterior part •of the superior temporal gyrus + Brodmann's 22•Language characteristics in production: •-Fluent speech•-paraphasias (phonetic, phonological, semantic)•-The language production resembles to a word salad•Comprehension: •Usually impaired to various degrees (from minimal to severe). •Usually there is a correlation