Language Disorders

BILINGUALISM

• A bilingual home environment may cause an apparent temporary delay in the onset of both languages.

BILINGUALISM

• The bilingual child's comprehension of the two languages is normal for a child of the same age.
• Usually becomes proficient in both languages before the age of five years.

Interference or transfer

• An English error due to the direct influence of the primary language structure.
• This is a normal phenomenon

Silent period

• Common second-language acquisition phenomenon
• Often very quiet, speaking little
• Focus on understanding the new language
• The younger the child, the longer the silent period tends to last.

Code switching

• Changing languages over phrases or sentences.
• Normal phenomenon

Benefits of Bilingualism

• Children who are fluent bilinguals actually outperform monolingual speakers on tests of metalinguistic skill.

Benefits of Bilingualism

• Our world is shrinking and business becomes increasingly international
• Children who are fluent bilingual speakers are potentially a tremendously valuable resource for the U.S. economy.

Language Disorders

• Egyptians reported speech loss after blow to head 3000 years ago
• Broca (1861) finds damage to left inferior frontal region (Broca’s area) of a language impaired patient, in postmortem analysis

Language Disorders (2)

• In language disorders
• 90-95% of cases, damage is to the left hemisphere
• 5-10% of cases, to the right hemisphere
• Wada test is used to determine the hemispheric dominance
• Sodium amydal is injected to the carotid artery
• First to the left and then to the right

Language Disorders (3)

• Paraphasia:
• Substitution of a word by a sound, an incorrect word, or an unintended word
• Neologism:
• Paraphasia with a completely novel word
• Nonfluent speech:
• Talking with considerable effort
• Agraphia:
• Impairment in writing
• Alexia:
• Disturbances in reading