Neurolinguistics

Bettina Phan
ENGL4315
Intro to Sociolinguistics
Final Research Paper

Neurolinguistics

The study of neurolinguistics covers the relationship between language and communication to different parts of the human brain. Neurolinguistics mainly “explores how the brain understands and produces language and communication (Ahslen 3).” In order to study this relationship, it is necessary to combine several theories that are commonly used by researchers in this field, such as neurological and neurophysiological theory, and linguistic theory. Neurological and neurophysiological theory focuses on how the brain is structured and how it functions. Human behavior is best defined, explored, and explained through activity within the brain that includes neural firing and how different clusters of neurons work together to generate a behavioral pattern. Linguistic theory focuses on how language is structured and how it functions. It is believed that every community has their own language and repertoire that is considered socially acceptable when used among peers; this common language unites all of the individuals within the community. Researchers of this theory mainly study how these different languages interact with each other, whether it is a negative or positive outcome. Neurolinguistics also has existing theories that have a considerable amount of influence among researchers. The first theory is called localism, which “tries to find locations or centers in the brain for different language functions (Ahslen 5).” Another existing theory is associationism, which “situates language functions in the connections between different areas of the brain (Ahslen 5).” For example, the brain is able to establish a connection between the perception of senses with words and social concepts. Dynamic localization of function describes the existence of a functional system of localized sub functions within the brain that perform language functions. These systems are considered dynamic and are capable of being reorganized during the development of language or after brain damage. Holistic theories explain that multiple areas of the brain collectively work together in order to carry out all language functions. Evolution-based theories explain the relationship between the brain and language evolves over time. As time passes, the development of language evolves in different species, how it is first developed in children, and how adults carry out language functions. The main question that is explored in neurolinguistics is how the ability to communicate and the ability to use language evolved as the species evolved and how are these abilities related to the evolution of the brain. Even though it is not technologically possible to examine the human brain and how it reacts to language acquisition and development in this situation, it is still possible to collect data on how these abilities evolved over time. The best method to collect this data is to interview subjects and explore their personal experiences with acquiring their first language and how they developed it in order to communicate with others. The first step to creating this experiment is establishing a list of potential interview questions that will be used to help understand the subject’s personal experiences. These questions must be thought-provoking enough for the subject to be capable of giving substantial and thorough answers. The next step would be choosing subjects that will be interviewed. There are no specific characteristics a subject must have but it is ideal to have a wide range of demographics dispersed among these individuals. The top three characteristics that are generally needed to be widely different from each other are gender, race, and age. The wide differences between these characteristics are important because it simply makes it easier to see how the evolution of language and communication changes among the different individuals in society. After the questions and interviewees are chosen, it is also important to decide where the interview will take place. It should be a location where nothing will distract the interviewer or interviewee from the questions. It should also be comfortable enough for both parties to speak freely without the fear of being judged for their responses. Depending on the amount of questions, the area should also be comfortable enough for both parties to sit comfortably for an extended period of time and refresh themselves. There were three subjects used for the experiment; the first interviewee is a 21-year-old, Asian American, female; the second interviewee is a 35-year-old, Caucasian, female; and the last interviewee is a 12-year-old, Hispanic, male. The socio-economic backgrounds of the interviewees are all part of the middle-class working category. The Asian American female is a full-time college student and does not work, the Caucasian female is a full-time receptionist at a doctor’s office and the Hispanic male will be starting 5th grade. The interviewees are all acquaintances of the interviewer’s family and are not related to each other. They were all interviewed separately, with the exception of the Hispanic male, who had his mother accompany him, on different days at different times, but the setting of the interview is the same. The interview portion took place in the living room of the interviewer. The answers from the interviews were recorded on a separate sheet for each interviewee. The first interviewee’s parents immigrated to America from Vietnam and because of their traditional background, she was taught Vietnamese as her native language. Her parents taught her how to form sentences so that she would be able to communicate with her relatives in the household, but she slowly learned her vocabulary as time progressed. She began to learn English as her second language when she was 4-years-old. She also attended a special school, along with regular American schooling, that taught English as a second language to foreign students for two years. English felt easier to learn because she was constantly exposed to it by her friends and teachers at school, but she does not have anyone to practice her English in her household. She felt that Vietnamese was more difficult to learn because of the complicated tenses and grammar rules. She feels like she would have learned Vietnamese easier if there was a specific curriculum her parents followed but it was quicker for her to learn it since her parents practiced with her. She is able to fully communicate her thoughts and ideas in both languages, but she is unable to translate from one language to another because of the unique vocabulary for the respective language. Her not knowing the entire vocab for Vietnamese made it hard for her to perfectly communicate with her parents, but they helped her fill in the gaps. The second interviewee’s native language is English and parents taught her the basics before she started attending school. They used at home teaching methods, such as children programs on television and workbooks purchased from the store. She does not know a second language, but she took Spanish classes in middle school but she was not able to become fluent. She feels like it was not able to stick because she did not practice the language outside of school since no one in her household spoke Spanish. When she was taught English at a young age, she remembered it was easy for her to grasp the concept and rules of the language. She does not specifically remember how her parents taught her English, but she knows they read a lot of books to her and made learning the language very interactive. Her parents were also very involved with her English schoolwork. She finds it very easy to communicate her ideas and thoughts in English since it is her native language, but she found it difficult to do so in the beginning since she did not know all the rules and vocabulary but it became easier as time progressed. The third interviewee’s native language is English and his parents taught him through watching children programs and playing education oriented games on a tablet. He is currently learning how to speak Spanish and the family members are the main teachers. They do not use modern methods to teach Spanish as his parent use for English. He feels English was the easiest language to learn because it was more fun and interactive because of the learning games and television programs. He feels Spanish was more difficult to learn because it is taught to him in a different method from English, but he feels like it would have been more effective for the family to utilize interactive games since he is more of a hands-on and visual learner. His mother comments that English is more of necessity for him to learn rather than Spanish since her and her husband are more Americanized. All three interviewees found it easier to learn their native language at a young age, and as seen through the third interviewee, children are more responsive to fun and interactive teaching methods. Not only is it important to make sure the teaching method matches well with the individual, it is also important to ensure they are able to practice the language sufficiently to become fluent. As seen in the second interviewee, she was taught Spanish as a mandatory part of her school’s curriculum, but she was not able to become fluent in the language since she did not practice speaking it outside of school. In the Ahslen text, she explores a theory created by one of the early researchers of neurolinguistics, Franz Joseph Gall. He explored the theory of the cortex being the main area of the brain responsible for language acquisition since it was “responsible for sensory and motory functions (Ahslen 15).” From studying biographies of 27 well-known individuals of that time, Gall discovered 27 human abilities and the development of the brain and these abilities depended on the size of the cortex. As seen through his theory, the acquisition and development of language within an individual depends on the size of the cortex. At a young age, the cortex of the brain is still developing, which makes it easier and susceptible to learning languages. As an individual grows older, the cortex reaches its maximum potential growth and makes it slightly more difficult for the individual to learn new languages, which is seen through the second interviewee’s attempt to learn Spanish. Although she was able to grasp the concept and rules of the language, it was difficult for her to become fluent without the necessary practice. However, adults are capable of becoming fluent in a language but they lack the native fluency that can only be achieved by learning the language at a young age.

Works Cited

Ahlsén, Elisabeth. Introduction to Neurolinguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. University of Houston Libraries. Web. Nov. 2013.

Cited: Ahlsén, Elisabeth. Introduction to Neurolinguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. University of Houston Libraries. Web. Nov. 2013.