Language and the Brain Damage

Kevin Evodie Gerardo

Offering I / 130222614327
State University of Malang

Humans are born with the innate capacity to acquire the extremely complex, creative
system of communication that we call language. We are born with a language instinct, which
Chomsky calls the LAD (language acquisition device). So, basically language is very
important. We do know that language is the only way we can communicate with. By
producing language speech, we not only just communicate, but we can also share our ideas or
opinions with other people. That is why language plays a vital role in our life. But, where
does the language originally come from? Many people assume that the basic source of
language lies in the lips, the tongue, or the ear, but people who have no capacity to use their
vocal cords might still be able to comprehend language and use its written forms, mute and
deaf people for instance.  And human sign language, which is based on gestures rather than
the creation of sounds, is definitely a creative system just like spoken forms of language. 
But, the basic source of language itself is neither in the hand, in the tongue, in the lip, nor in
the ear. The origin of language is from brain. The ability of humans to speak and to
understand language requires an enormous amount of brain resources. These resources
manage information about many thousands of words, many syntactic constructions, and their
interconnections. This complex combination of brain structures is called the brain's linguistic
system. It allows a person not only to talk and to understand speech, but also to read and
write. It also gives us the ability to think as well as the ability to acquire new knowledge and
ability to learn how to speak at the first place. More specifically, the language faculty seems
to be located in certain areas of the left hemispheric cortex in most adults due to the fact that
it relates to language production and comprehension.

There are two main hemispheres in our brain, left hemisphere and right hemisphere.
These hemispheres have specialized regions and different functions. This specialization is
referred to as lateralization (lateral means "side"). Each of the brain's hemispheres is
responsible for different cognitive functions. For most individuals, the left hemisphere is
dominant in the areas of analytic reasoning, temporal ordering, arithmetic, and language
processing. While the right hemisphere is in charge of processing music, perceiving
nonlinguistic sounds, and performing tasks that require visual and spatial skills or pattern
recognition. In all human beings, the connections between the brain and the body are called
contralateral (contra means "opposite" and contralateral means "opposite side"). This
means that the right side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere, while the left side of
the body is controlled by the right hemisphere. It is also important to realize that this
contralateral connection means the sensory information from the right side of the body is
received by the left hemisphere, while sensory information from the left side of the body
is received by the right hemisphere. Sensory information can be any data through
hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, or smelling. There are several areas of the brain that play a
critical role in speech and language:
Broca’s Area
Broca’s area, located in the left hemisphere, is associated with speech production and
articulation. Our ability to articulate ideas, as well as to use words accurately in spoken and
written language, has been attributed to this crucial area.
Wernicke’s Area
This critical language area in the posterior superior temporal lobe connects to Broca’s area
through a neural pathway which is called the arcuate fasciculus. This nerve fiber allows the
two brain areas to share information. Wernicke's area is primarily involved in the
comprehension. Historically, this area has been associated with language processing, whether
it is written or spoken.
Angular Gyrus
The angular gyrus allows us to associate multiple types of language-related information
whether auditory, visual or sensory. It is located in close proximity to other critical brain
regions such as the parietal lobe which processes tactile sensation, the occipital lobe which is
involved in visual analyses and the temporal lobe which processes sounds. The angular gyrus
allows us to associate a perceived word with different images, sensations and ideas.

It has been explained that those areas of the brain have significant roles in producing
and understanding language speech. Without them, we are not able to look up words, match
the spoken form of words with the objects described, and pronounce them correctly. When
someone has trouble understanding other people (receptive language), or explaining thoughts,
ideas and feelings (expressive language), that is a language disorder. When someone cannot
produce speech sounds correctly or fluently, or has voice problem, that is a speech disorder.
Both language and speech disorder are the impacts of what so called brain damage. Certain
types of brain damage can affect language production without eliminating language from the
brain. How can the brain suffer from injury? As we already know, the human brain is well
protected by the skull. But there are some possibilities for the brain to become injured. The
problems might originate inside the skull such as infection, tumor, or broken blood vessels
which damages brain tissue. Some other causes of brain injury could include drug abuse or
collision. During a collision, the brain can be smashed against the skull with enough force to
create a “closed head injury”. Something (a bullet, knife, piece of metal, etc.) might strike the
skull with enough force to penetrate it. No matter what the causes of brain injury, it seems
that the entire parts of the brain will be equally affected.

When the brain is injured, the problems of the patients will vary depending on the
extent and the location of the damage. A particular injury might cause only visual problems
or problems only in moving certain sets of muscles, but most importantly the problems
dealing with language. If the areas of brain that control language are affected, there will be
language disorders that could damage the ability in producing and comprehending language.
Disorders differ somewhat depending on whether the patient is a child or an adult. Although
some disorders are the result of birth defects, the disorders in adults tend to be because of
brain injury suffered during accidents and strokes. The most common language disorder
found in most adults is Aphasia. Approximately 70 percent of the people with damage to the
left hemisphere experience this kind of disorder. Aphasia is the term used to describe an
acquired loss of language that causes problems with any or all of the following: speaking,
listening, reading and writing. Some people with aphasia have trouble using words and
sentences (expressive aphasia). Some have problems understanding others (receptive
aphasia). Others with aphasia struggle with both using words and understanding (global
aphasia). Aphasia can cause problems with spoken language (talking and understanding) and
written language (reading and writing). This becomes the most devastating problem in
linguistic development with total inability to communicate using language.

Aphasia, as it has been discussed before, is one of the language disorders

characterized by loss of speech and language abilities resulting from head injury or stroke.
The patients cannot speak more than a few words or syllables, and understands very little.
However, it usually requires extra effort for the person with aphasia to understand spoken
messages, as if he or she is trying to comprehend a foreign language. Speaking about
comprehending foreign language, have you ever seen a person who could speak foreign
language fluently after suffering from brain injury? The answer might be debatable, but
believe it or not, it really happens.

Let’s have a look what happened to Ben McMahon. Ben was the passenger of a car
that was involved in a car crash. He was in a coma for more than a week before he woke up
and was able to speak Mandarin fluently. He had only learned Mandarin at school and was
never fluent in it. The Melbournian is now studying commerce at a Shanghai university. Two
years ago Ben McMahon woke up from a coma more than a week after a horrific car crash
that almost claimed his life only being able to speak Mandarin. The 22-year-old remembers
how he woke up and saw a nurse who looked Asian standing by his bed and said to her
'Excuse me nurse, I feel really sore here' in Chinese. He then asked the nurse for a piece of
paper and pen and he wrote on it in Mandarin: 'I love my mum, I love my dad, I will recover.'
His new-found language skills baffled his doctors as well as his parents. It took Ben two or
three more days to recall how to speak English. Ben's father, Mark, and his mother were told
it would be a miracle if their son survived. Since then, Ben's language skills have open new
opportunities to him like leading Chinese tours of his hometown and hosting a Mandarin
television program.
What possibly happened to Ben was the left parts of the brain that carry English were
damaged in the car crash. Thus, it activated the memory of Mandarin language when he woke
up from his long coma. According to Neuroscience theory, this strange phenomenon is called
Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). Unlike Aphasia, the FAS patient, in this case is Ben, lose
the speech ability (he had aphasia), but then when it came back he had a new accent
(Mandarin). Foreign Accent Syndrome may occur after a serious accident or injury to the
brain which causes victims unconscious. When the patients are conscious, they find
themselves talking in completely different languages that they aren't able to speak prior to the
incident. This may continue for only a temporary period. In some other cases, some patients
may find themselves speaking this completely new language for a long period of time.
Medical professionals believe that Foreign Accent Syndrome is the result of miniscule areas
of the brain relating to language, pitch and speech patterns suffering temporary damage. The
cerebellum (which controls motor movement co-ordination and balance) and other parts of
the brain responsible for linguistic ability are often affected. This particular type of brain
damage affects both the rhythm and intonation of our speech patterns. As a result, sufferers
begin to speak in a different accent or a completely different language altogether.
 Foreign Accent Syndrome’s cases are rare, but they could become very serious
condition if there are no decent treatments given. The treatment for foreign accent syndrome
is normally a combination of speech and language therapy, particularly after a stroke, in
conjunction with neurologic therapy. While the syndrome may sometimes disappear within a
few months, it can often take several years and cause distress to the sufferer. In addition, the
syndrome is often linked to serious brain conditions which could affect our ability to speak,
such as Aphasia which inhibits our ability to both understand and speak language. In other
cases, Foreign Accent Syndrome has also been linked to speech Apraxia, a disorder which
impedes our ability to form sounds or words. To avoid any doubt, it is recommended that all
cases of foreign accent syndrome must be treated on an individual basis by medical
professionals.
All in all, there is a question I would ask related to this issue. Is the new accent in
FAS really a true accent? The answer can be true or not. I think what this means is that the
new accent may sound like the person from another place. This happens because that person
has lost the use of certain pronunciations in their language. Thus, they produce a new accent
which is drawn from other languages that make their speech sound foreign. It also suggests
that FAS is different from Aphasia. In Aphasia, the speech production violates the
pronunciation rules in any language, but FAS does not violate pronunciation rules. It just
mixes them with multiple languages.