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(Society for Neuroscience, 2017). 3D Brain
This 3D brain model allows you to zoom in and out of various parts of the brain to understand their functionalities better. Here you can further explore connections between the regions that make language possible.
There are specific regions that play more significant roles in language production and comprehension, which I discuss below. However, I have learned that language occurs in many parts of our brain and requires rapid, simultaneous connections between those parts.
As the theme of this website suggests, the right brain is often associated with creativity, while the left brain is considered analytical. The language functions of each side supports this overarching theory.
Left Brain
Left Brain
The left hemisphere is primarily responsible for language. Once the brain has developed further, it can begin to process isolated phonemes and words. The left brain becomes crucial because it analyzes the patterns of language, including syntax. This side of the brain also processes word-meaning relationships (Campbell, 2018). Broca and Wernicke's area are commonly referred to as the language production regions. Further descriptions of these areas are provided below.
Right Brain
Right Brain
The right brain processes the musical aspect of language, such as intonation and prosody. Consider the difference between the Italian and Russian languages. We distinguish the unique characteristics of language in the right hemisphere. Studies have shown that babies can identify classes of language as early as two days old (Gillings, 2020). This suggests that babies have increased activity in the right side of the brain until they are able to break into the code of language.
Broca's Area
Broca's Area
Broca's area is located in the left hemisphere of the brain in the inferior frontal gyrus (Society for Neuroscience, 2017) . Paul Broca was a french surgeon who discovered a patient with a brain lesion in this part of the brain. The patient had lost the ability to speak coherently. This led to the discovery that this area, now known as Broca's area, played a role in language production (Friederici, 2017).
Wernicke's Area
Wernicke's Area
Carl Wernicke also worked with patients struggling with language deficits. However, his patient had a lesion in the temporal cortex, as opposed to the inferior frontal gyrus. Over time, neuroscientists concluded that Wernicke's area supported semantic processes. In general, Wernicke's area allows us to comprehend language (Friederici, 2017).
Reading
Reading
The parieto-temporal and occipito-temporal areas in the brain have been linked to our reading abilities. The parieto-temporal area is able to decode words by pulling words apart in an analytical way. A reader's initial processing of a word - the look, sound, and meaning of a word happens in this area. Our brain can then create a neural model of a word, which is then stored in the occipito-temporal region. The neural model is stored permanently in the brain, making reading possible (Honig, 2013).
When considering the structure of the English language specifically, we know that " left-to-right letters are first seen in the right-hand field-of-view of each eye and then processed in the left hemisphere of the brain" (Burke, 1997, pp. 71-72)
(Honig, 2013)
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