Based on the reading, I think language is both a biological and a cultural phenomenon. On one hand, Figure 16 shows that Wernicke’s area, or the temporal lobe, is the key part of the brain for comprehension, while Broca’s area, or the frontal lobe’s low back, is the key part for speech. Areas around Rolando are also aid speech. On the other hand, the external cultural situation shapes how we use language to engage with the world. For example, since Indonesia has less grammatical structures and cues than English or German, Indonesian speakers need to do more “reading between the lines” to comprehend the meaning. This less direct way of defining the world speaks to the country’s culture, and illuminates the importance of cultural knowledge and context clues in semantics. Since words and lexemes have the clearest meaning when they are surrounded by other words, it is probably best to study words in groups, rather than on their own. Creating sentences may be more effective than compiling a dictionary of alphabetized words (It seems like such a method is helpful as a reference tool, but not for internalizing meaning). These articles reminded me of the need to define my terms whenever writing a paper because each reader may have a unique way of understanding the term. In my geography class, for example, I have been learning about the numerous ways of thinking about the word sustainability. The multiplicity of meanings illuminate how our social situation shapes how we use language to articulate our world views.
One final thought: I know that the right-brain/left-brain contrast is often overstated, and over contrasted, but as a left-handed person who identifies closely with the right brain tendencies listed, and wonder how these might play into my preferred language learning styles.
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