I was really intrigued by how complex the language process is in the brain. I knew that there were a lot of moving parts, but now I can see it and put it all together. Also, the concept of localization was interesting to me, and if one part of your brain is damaged, then only a few tasks or abilities will be affected. For example, the Wernickes’ area oversees comprehending speech, but if it is damaged, that doesn’t necessarily mean your ability to speak is hindered. Localization accounts for the fact that certain parts of the brain oversee very specific tasks. All these parts of the brain must come together; the actions of listening, responding in speech, reading, and then writing a message back would not all work. There are so many different steps that must occur for the brain to fully participate in the art of language. All parts of the brain must communicate, but some vital parts mentioned are the fissure of Rolando, Wernicke’s area, Heschl’s gyri, Broca’s area, and Exner’s center. These are all responsible for different parts of language.
The other reading had a greater focus on words and their meanings. One point it made was that in the English language, we just use uncle or aunt interchangeably for our mom or dad, but in other languages they have specific words for their mom’s brother or dad’s brother. I believe that they may do this in Latin, or they do something similar to it, which I thought was interesting when I was learning the language. I feel like in the English language, we do this for our grandparents, but in our own ways. For example, you may call your grandma on your mom’s side Granny, but on your dad’s side, you may call her Grams. We do not have it baked into our language, but we kind of do it on our own. I also found the point it made about the word “mean” very interesting. It can be used to intend, indicate, refer to, etc. We do not always think about all these things when we simply use the word in our own language. I believe that Korean does this in its own way. I cannot explain it exactly because I am not fully educated, but I know it uses different words for the same word/item or something of the sort. The idea of conceptualizing and processing meaning is interesting as well. It is kind of like when you are choosing folders for different subjects, but it also depends on where you grew up and who you grew up with. For example, I always think reading deserves a red folder and science a green folder, but not everyone agrees. The way we make connections with different words, even though there is no actual meaning, is interesting.
The first reading especially made me think back to the video we watched in class, and made me wonder if language learning is really just biological. Maybe someone's brain is stronger in a language learning area; therefore, they have an easier time learning something. I think that this goes for any type of learning, and it should not stop anyone. It always takes practice and effort; it is not just a biological sense of luck. I was wondering, though, if one part of your brain is damaged for some reason, can it adapt a separate part of your brain to pick up the slack and use that part of your brain to learn? Can you move around the localization of certain actions, or are they the same for everyone?
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