Discussion Post #1- Due by 5:00pm on Sunday, September 6

[Michael Marsh-Soloway]

1) Read Crystal, D.:  How the brain handles language
2) Read Crystal, D.:  How we mean and How we analyse meaning

Due by 5:00pm on Sunday, September 6: Discussion Post #1 to the Ning

Reflect on the readings. Do you have any questions about the texts? Are there any claims that you find problematic? Do you think language is a purely biological phenomenon? What parts of the brain are most important for the production and comprehension of speech? How do you conceptualize or process meaning? Do these readings inspire any special insights or motivations that could help advance your foreign-language abilities, retention, and recollection?

[Jannette You]

The texts were interesting to read because they had a lot of scientific evidence to explain how our brains work, especially with languages. It was also fascinating to learn that it requires a lot of brain work and many different parts to work together to function correctly. I wanted to do more research on speech impediment because my friend has suffered from it before. It would be interesting to see which part of her brain was damaged. It is not necessarily problematic, but I wanted to learn more about the Theory of cerebral localization and other points that kind of made it seem like a language is a "biological phenomenon." I believe that there are many factors to consider when we think about "language." Language represents just more than a biological phenomenon; it represents one's culture, environment, or history. Furthermore, it has the ability to create relationships, express feelings/emotions, and so much more. The most important parts of the brain for the production and comprehension of speech would be Wernicke's and Broca's areas as well as the temporal lobe. I conceptualize meaning by putting them into context and see what they mean in actual conversations. I also find synonyms and replace the words to see whether they make sense. As mentioned in the readings, there are many factors to consider "how we mean" like knowing how to distinguish natural and conventional, sense and reference, and more. It is important to understand how the meanings are used based on the situations and conversations. Based on these readings, I was motivated to figure out different ways of learning a language in an effective and timely manner. Instead of just knowing the words, I should focus on learning how they are used. 

[Valentina Castellar]

The reading was very insightful into how complicated language learning and the biological process of language. I don't think language is a purely biological process because of the semantics and cultural context of a language. Reading more deeply as to why as people formulate words can be overwhelming, I found myself rereading certain sections. I didn't know the word lexemes existed and the difference between lexemes and words is confusing. If lexemes are the "categories" then words would be inside the lexemes. I enjoyed knowing how words varied in certain languages, how many different words there are for family members. In Spanish, I still get confused between the words for in-laws if there are from certain sides or how they vary if you are talking about certain people. It's funny because that concept doesn't really exist in English.
However, It was helpful to see all the brain process involved and how language isn't tied to one specific cerebral hemisphere. I was not aware that our handedness was involved in the language aspect and how language is dominant in the opposite hemispheres. The concept of localization helped me understand how complex language is and how many parts of the brain are needed to speak and interpret a language. For example damage to Broca's area can cause us to not be able to physically speak, as well as the importance of Wernicke's area in speech comprehension. I became more aware of the individual components of language learning and feel it can help me find target areas where I lack.

[Faith Pinckney]

I thought that the readings were very informative and allowed me to make connections from material I learned in Human Anatomy. While I knew about the largest part of the brain being the cerebrum and how the brain has hemispheres, prior to these readings, I didn’t quite understand how the brain processes languages.

Incidentally, in Chapter 27, we learned about how many portions of the brain are involved in processing and producing speech. Namely, the cerebellum and thalamus help the cerebral cortex (which is the portion of the brain that is primarily involved with controlling intellectual processing and voluntary movement) with maintaining the neurolinguistic program. We (humans) are able to process meaning due to the ear receiving signals that arrive in the auditory cortex and eventually become interpreted in the adjacent Wernicke’s area.

I thought that it was interesting how the neurolinguistic process was explained in steps. This caused me to think about computer coding.  I also found it fascinating learning about tongue slips, as I have these from time to time, and sometimes even while reading I swap the order of words in a sentence. I also liked the portion that discussed how sentence structure and vocabulary usage can impact the meaning, because I sometimes get corrected for saying things like “The pencil fell” instead of “I dropped the pencil".

One portion of the reading that I didn’t quite understand was when it was explained that signals from each eye go to the opposite hemisphere side, and how this helps with making qualitative judgments about distance and location. In my Sensory Biology class, we learned about several visual strategies for organisms, one being distance. In the chapter that we read for Sensory Biology, it was explained how organisms are able to perceive distance from an object based on the differences in the object’s direction when viewed by their own two eyes. Thus, the ability to detect depth is influenced by an overlap in the field of view of an organism’s two eyes. I am left wondering how do these two approaches to depth perception connect?

In regards to the question of "Do you think language is a purely biological phenomenon”, from a religious aspect, I would say no. This would be because of the Tower of Babel.

After these readings and thinking back on my previous attempts to learn a language, I am curious what possibly causes “tongue slips” where people unintentionally replace a word from one language with that word in a different language? Additionally, since I am learning ASL and will need to become more intentional with my facial expressions (something I struggle to do when performing), I wonder if learning this factor through training in ASL will also improve such when I speak in English. Or, as it says in Chapter 29, “Different languages talk about the world in different ways” (188), would it be better for there not to be much of an impact on my facial expressions when speaking in English?

[Seokjoon Han]

Why do left-handed people not have a symmetrical dominant relationship with right-handed people? I didn’t find any claims to be problematic, but I do believe that the multifunctional view makes more sense than the localization view. I believe language is more than a biological phenomenon. Semantics itself shows that language can be very complex and ambiguous. Language is a combination of culture, experience, context, and many more things than just biology. The temporal lobe and the parietal lobe have important functions in the production and comprehension of speech. I conceptualize meaning through the images and experiences I have associated with the words. I definitely can utilize music and films to create images that will help me associate deeper meanings into words, rather than just a dictionary definition.

[Rachel Lim]

As I was reading the text, I found that the ideas presented were very fascinating. Before, I would have common sense that the brain controlled certain movements of our body. But I was amazed to find out more about the details of how our brain functioned. I found out that if people are right-handed then their left hemisphere is dominant for language. But for left-handed people since they are a homogenous group, most of the cases are that the left hemisphere is either dominant for language or both are involved for language. I used to be left-handed when I was a baby, but my parents forced me to become a righty. I wonder if this had any effect with my language learning process when I was young. 

The book shows how there are lots of connections between language and the human brain. It shows that the left hemisphere is found to be dominant for analytical tasks, logical organization, information sequencing, complex motor functions, and language. The right hemisphere is dominant for perception, creative sensibility, musical patterns, and emotional expression. There are important parts of our brain for learning a language. The Wernicke’s area is important for obtaining the ability for comprehension of speech but might not have any effect on speaking. However, Broca's area is where people have the ability to speak. 
There are many meanings to words which often makes us question how we conceptualize or process the exact meaning of the word. It is hard to enquire the meaning of a word since there are different forms, idioms, and grammar involved. When we process the meaning of the word we can refer to the sense relations such as synonymy, notion of inclusions, antonymy, and incompatibility. After these readings, I recognized why it was so hard for me to memorize SAT words by just looking at the definitions without the contexts. I feel like instead of just memorizing words for a language, I should understand and view how they are used in context. This will help me understand the different nuances that a language might have since they all have different ways of expressing the world.