DISSOLUTION LANGUAGE LOSS

A. Neurolinguistics and Language Loss

1. The evidence from aphasia
Language is represented for most people in the left hemisphere, the area of the
brain which is crucial for the production and comprehension of human language. A
neurologist, Paul Broca, a French physician, named these two locations, motor and
sensory, as Broca’s area, who also helped coin the term aphasia, the loss of speech or
language due to brain damage. Just behind this area, at the lower portion of the
sensory cortex, is Wernicke’s area, named after Broca’s Austrian contemporary, Karl
Wernicke. There are many different types of aphasia, but the classic types are Broca’s
aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia. Broca’s aphasia is characterized by speech and
writing which is slow, very hesitant, and in severe cases, completely inhibited.
Whereas Wernicke’s aphasia is characterized by speech production and writing are
pretty much intact, but because the sensory cortex is damaged, patients experience a
great deal of trouble processing linguistic input.
There are two kinds of surgical operation which have a particular bearing on
questions of language dissolution. One of these procedures is hemispherectomy.
Research into aphasia, and studies of hemispherectomy and split-brain patients, has
given rise to two superficially contradictory claims about the manner in which the
 brain processes language. On the one hand, there is irrefutable evidence that for the
vast majority of adults, the production and comprehension of speech is located in two
closely situated but clearly distinct areas of the left hemisphere, Broca’s and
Wernicke’s, and this localization of function is not fully completed until about ten
years old. On the other hand, in contrast to these claims about the neurolinguistic
primacy of the left hemisphere, research in all areas of language dissolution shows
that human linguistic ability does not solely reside in these two relatively small areas
on one side of the brain.

B. Speech and Language Disorder

1. Dissolution from non-damaged brain
Language dissolution is the result of operations on the brain. Individual language
can deviate significantly from social norms, e.g., stuttering and autism. Stuttering
(refers to stammering) is one of the most common articulation problems encountered
by speech pathologists. Stuttering is not random: it does not punctuate our speaking
spasmodically, like a hiccough. It occurs most frequently on the initial word of a
clause; the first syllable of a word, the initial consonant of a syllable, and on stop
consonants (like /p/, /t/, /k/). Johnson theory represents the extreme behavioral view
and claims that stuttering originates from traumatic events occurring in early
childhood when overly sensitive parents (who often themselves were childhood
stutterers) and/or primary school teachers are to assiduous in attempting to ensure that
the child speaks fluently. The same parent or teacher who criticizes a four-year-old for
blurting out ‘P-p-p-please!’ is unlikely to comment on the child’s less than perfectly
coordinated way of walking.

2. Language loss arising from inherited disorders

The genes which carry the human heritage of speech are countermanded by an
inherited defect that is transported by the same genetic code. Down’s syndrome, a
disorder that occurs about once in every 600 births and, along with marked
anatomical abnormalities, leaves the child moderately to severely impaired in all
cognitive functions. The enlargement of the tongue in Down’s syndrome creates poor
 articulation, and though comprehension is not significantly affected, expressive
speech is hesitant and limited, in a manner reminiscent of Broca’s aphasia.

3. Language loss through aging

Though the humor expressed might diminish proportionally with the age of the
recipient, it is true that a reduction physical and mental abilities often does
accompany the aging process. Various afflictions, neurological, environment, or
hereditary, mean that humans sometimes have the gift of language taken away from
them prematurely naturally. The most conspicuous faculty eroded by the aging
process is memory, and since language represents a major component of Long Term
Memory (LTM). Since access to LTM is capacity limited, it is more logical to assume
that the more you have to remember, the easier it is to forget. LTM improved slightly,
but after the fifth decade, subject typically forgot one item for every successive
decade of life. The memory constraints that may become evident as we get older seem
to be due primarily to Short Term Memory (STM) constraints, or limitations on
inputting and accessing the material to be recalled. We cannot measure aging directly
by chronological years; geriatrics has long taught us that age is more directly a
manifestation of health than of the calendar.
Alzheimer’s disease : Appear to involve both hereditary and environmental
factors, the brain of an AD patient deteriorates prematurely, and this loss has
profound and ultimately injurious effects on every aspects of AD has just begun, but
the research which has been undertaken shows that speech and language are not
affected in isolation. Linguistic function gradually disintegrates together with those of
emotion, cognition and personality. Who wrote more complex composition (i.e. whso
used more subordination in their sentences) seemed to have a much better chance of
not succumbing to AD compared to those who used simpler sentences structures.
Again, the evidence suggests that language is no different from other aspects of
human behavior, the more complex the endeavor.

Source:
http://googleweblight.com/i?u=http://imoed-forum.blogspot.com/2012/01/dissolution-language-
loss.html?m%3D1&hl=id-ID, diakses 15 Mei 2019 (16:43)