The Neurolinguistics of Bilingualism

This book introduces the reader to both neurolinguistics per se and the neuropsychological aspects of bilingualism. Neurolinguistics may roughly be defined as a subset of neuropsychology, namely the study of the representation and processing of language in the brain. To this effect, the first chapters of the book focus on the basic neuropsychology of language processing and acquisition. The second half of the book addresses the issues of cerebral representation and processing of language in bi-or multilingual subjects. All aspects are systematically dealt with, namely the definition of bilingualism; an analysis of all the issues related to bilingual aphasia, i.e. patterns of recovery of the patients' carious languages in diverse population; an investigation of the methodologies used in the study of the neuropsychological aspects of the various linguistic functions, such as comprehension, production and translation; and lastly, the issues of cerebral lateralization and neuroanatomical localization of the numerous cortical and subcortical structures subserving the various language system components in multilingual subjects. It is an excellent introduction to both the neuropsychology of language and the phenomena related to bilingualism. This book will be of particular interest to students of language therapy, aphasiology, applied psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics and, in general, to students of medicine who wish to become more knowledgeable about the specific needs of patients in a multilingual society.

Fabbro, Franco

Chapter 1. What is Language? Linguistics and the Study of Language. Phonetics and Phonology. Syntax. Morphology. Semantics. Chapter 2. How Language Sounds are Produced and Perceived. Physiology of Speech Production. Acoustic Analysis of Speech. Production and Perception of Vowels and Consonants. Chapter 3. How the Brain Controls Vocalizations. Basic Concepts of Brain Anatomy and Physiology. Neural Centers Controlling Vocalizations. Analogies Between Human Languages and Bird Song. Chapter 4. Language Areas in the Brain. Pioneering Studies. The Location of Articulated Language. Cerebral Lateralization of Linguistic Functions. Sensory Aphasia. The Control of Voluntary Movement According to Wernicke. The Language Scheme in the Brain. Clinical Cases. Chapter 5. Aphasia: The Undoing of Language. Basic Terminology of Aphasia. Different Types of Aphasia. The Right Hemisphere and Verbal Communication. Chapter 6. The Assessment of Aphasia. Clinical Criteria. Aphasia Tests in Monolinguals. Aphasia Tests in Bilinguals. Chapter 7. Methods for Studying the Organization of Language in the Brain. Studies on Normal Subjects. Dichotic Listening. The Verbal-Manual Interference Paradigm (Finger-tapping). Tachistoscopic Viewing. Recording the Electrical Activity of the Brain. Functional Brain Imaging. Investigation Techniques for Neurological Patients. Carotid Sodium Amytal Injection (Wada test). Electric Stimulation of the Brain. Computerized Axial Tomography. Magnetic Resonance Imagining. Chapter 8. The Representation of Language in the Brain. Fundamentals of Neurophysiology. Cortical Representation of Language. Models of Language Processing. A Neurofunctional Model of Language Processing. Chapter 9. The Role of Subcortical Structures in Language. A Neuropsychological Model of Subcortical Language Structures. The Role of the Cerebellu