• Our linguistic ability is a biological gift of the species’s gene program.
5
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)
4) How damage to the brain affects the ability to use
langof 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）
weight: 1,400 grams Component: ten billion nerve cells called neuron and billions of fibers that connect these neurons. Neuron: the basic information processing units of the nervous system
9
皮层 Gyrus 脑回 Sulcus 回间沟 Fissure 裂缝
小脑
Cerebrum
The cerebrum that differs in different species is not essential for life.
10
Cerebral Cortex
The cerebral cortex is the decision-making organ of the body and storehouse of “memory”.
• Now, the technological advances enables more investigation of the human brain and language processing.
2
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
2) What function each part of the brain performs
3) How and in which parts of the brain language is stored
• The different types of language disturbance that result from the brain damage
4
The biological foundations of language
• By far, human beings are the only species that possess language ability.
It receives messages from all the sensory organs and initiates all voluntary actions.
and so on.
Human teeth Lips mouth
upright, not slanting outwards, the top and the bottom sets can meet
muscles which show more intricate interlacing than those of other animals
cartoon
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Two sections of the brain
• The lower section： the brain stem
• the higher section: cerebrum
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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
Chapter 12
Language and the Brain
1
Two Branches of Linguistics
• Neurolinguistics 神经语言学
• Psycholinguistics 心理语言学
• Traditionally, linguists pay more attention to language system itself.
relatively small, can open and shut rapidly
tongue
thick, muscular and flexible enough to get in touch with other
parts of the oral cavity.
6
The structure and function of the human brain