Neurolinguistics: An Introduction to Spoken Language Processing and Its Disorders

Neurolinguistics, An Introduction to Spoken Language Processing andIts Disorders--------------------------------------------------What biological factors make human communication possible? How do weprocess and understand language? How does brain damage affect thesemechanisms, and what can this tell us about how language is organizedin the brain? The field of neurolinguistics seeks to answer these questions,which are crucial to linguistics, psychology and speech pathology alike.This textbook introduces the central topics in neurolinguistics: speechrecognition, word and sentence structure, meaning, and discourse -in both 'normal' speakers and those with language disorders. It moveson to provide a balanced discussion of key areas of debate such asmodularity and the 'language areas' of the brain, 'connectionist' versus'symbolic' modelling of language processing, and the nature of linguisticand mental representations. Making accessible over half a century ofscientific and linguistic research, and containing extensive studyquestions, it will be welcomed by all those interested in the relationshipbetween language and the brain.--------------------------------------------------Author Biography: John C. L. Ingram is Senior Lecturer on the LinguisticsProgram at the University of Queensland.