Chapter12LanguageandtheBrain..docVIP

Chapter 12 Language and the Brain Neurolinguistics Neurolinguistics is the study of two related areas: language disorders and the relationship between brain and language. It includes research into 1. How the brain is structured What function each part of the brain performs How and in which parts of the brain language is stored How damage to the brain affects the ability to use language The focus of this Section A brief survey of the brain structure and its function The methods used in the study of the brain in terms of evideces for lateralization (referring to cognitive functions controlled either by the left or the right side of the brain)（边侧性） The different types of language disturbance that result from the brain damage The biological foundations of language By far, human beings are the only species that possess language ability. Our linguistic ability is a biological gift of the species’s gene program. Speech organs These organs consist of lips, teeth, tongue, oral cavity, nasal cavity, palate(硬腭), velum(软腭), pharynx(咽), epiglottis(会厌), vocal cord(声带), pulmonic cavity(肺腔) and so on. Two sections of the brain the brain stem Connecting to the spinal cord（脊椎） and shared by all animals, keeps the body alive by maintaining the essential functions such as respiration, heart rate, and muscle co-ordination Cerebrum The cerebrum that differs in different species is not essential for life. Cerebral Cortex The cerebral cortex is the decision-making organ of the body and storehouse of “memory”. It receives messages from all the sensory organs and initiates all voluntary actions. It is the cerebral cortex that accounts for the human distinctness in the animal world and it is within the human cortext that the secrets of language representation and processing are to be found. Animals, reptiles and amphibians have no cortex at all. Cerebral hemispheres The left and the right brain The main connection between them is a bundle of nerve fibres known as the corpus callosu