Language and Speech

Language and Speech

The Broca’s area was discovered by Paul Broca in 1861 and named after him. It lies in the third frontal lobe just anterior to the motor cortex and above the Sylvian fissure. It serves a significant role in the understanding and generation of speech.  The Wernicke’s area is located in the left hemisphere of the brain. Its major function is the processing of words and sounds that we hear.

The Wernicke’s area and the Broca’s area are connected by the arcuate fasiculus.  These two areas function together to enable the generation of language and words. When one hears a word, it is transferred to the Wernicke’s area for the retrieval of the words meaning. The information is then transferred to the Broca’s area through the arcuate fasiculus. The Broca’s area initiates the pronouncing process. Any damage on one area affects speech in that if one cannot understand the meaning of a word, then one cannot reply to a conversation. Again, if one can understand the word but cannot pronounce the word, speech becomes a problem.

The video about Wernicke’s Aphasia shows clearly that the woman has a problem with language comprehension.  She has difficulty understanding what she is being told to do. However, she can produce sounds that seem like normal speech. The only problem is her utterances have no meaning and cannot convey any information. This is evident that she has a problem retrieving the meaning of words from the Wernicke’s area making her utter things that are meaningless.

The other video is about Broca’s aphasia. Grace is unable to produce grammatical sentences. Her speech is limited to short utterances.  She also has a problem finding the right words to use. It is evident that she has a problem producing sounds. The production of words happens in the Broca’s area.

 

 

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