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Memory and Language
Semantic memory is part of a larger division of memory known as declarative memory which refers to items in memory that can be consciously retrieved or recalled such as factual information, memories of events, and other types of knowledge (Tulving, 1972). Semantic memory is the memory of meanings and concept-based knowledge that can be consciously recollected such as facts about the world, word meanings, and other related information, whereas the other component of declarative memory, episodic memory, refers to the memory of biographical and event-related information (Tulving, 1972). Semantic memory functions as a storehouse of knowledge that can be consciously retrieved and applied when needed in specific situations and comprises a large amount of what we learn about the world and out relations in it (Tulving, 1972). Semantic memories are language based.
Human language is a different form of communication that used by other species of animals. Other species of animals have communications of sorts, but is not the same as human language. For example certain monkeys have distinct warning calls for different types of threats, but they do not combine these calls to express completely novel ideas. Human language is a system of verbal (or gestural) communication that allows for a veritable limitless number of ideas to be expressed by combining a finite set of verbal (or gestural) elements (Wargo, 2008). Thus, the function of human language is to provide for communication but also for expression and understanding of complex ideas.
The Russian linguist Roman Jakobson described six basic functions of language:...
The Wernicke-Geschwind model of language production was based on observations of language impairments in brain-damaged individuals and illustrates how this process works: Suppose one is having a conversation. The auditory signals from the speech of the other person are received by the primary auditory cortex in the brain and relayed to Wernicke's area in the brain (left temporal lobe) where it is comprehended. Wernicke's area generates the neural representation of the reply and transmits this intended reply by way of a tract of neuron fibers known as the left arcuate fasciculus to the posterior portion of the frontal lobe of the brain. Here the neural representation is activated in Broca's area and this activates an articulation program that is transmitted to the appropriate neurons in the primary motor cortex that control the muscles of language articulation of the face. The…
References
Bock, J.K. & Levelt, W.J.M. (1994.) Language production: Grammatical encoding. In Gernsbacher, M.A. (ed.) Handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 945 -- 84). New York:
Academic Press.
Dudai, Y. (2007) Memory: It's all about representations. In: Roediger, H.L., Dudai, Y. & Fitzpatrick S.M., (eds.) Science of memory: Concepts (pp 13-16). New York: Oxford
Jakobson, R. (1963). Implications of language universals for linguistics. In Greenberg, J. (ed.)
Language & Cognition The relationship between language and cognition continues to be an area of science that is heavily studied and for which research builds in exciting ways (Aitchison, 2007). New learnings about cognition and language are intimately tied to technological advances as neuropsychologists and others probe the human brain ever more deeply and meaningfully (Aitchison, 2007). Language and lexicon. Language is understood to be the symbolic representation of human thought (Yule,
Stages of Language Production: While there is not necessarily a consensus among researchers as to the precise nature of human language production, one widely accepted view is the information processing approach (Robinson-Riegler, 422). In that framework, language production generally occurs in four specific stages: (1) conceptualization, (2) planning, (3) articulation, and (4) self-monitoring. In that regard, the conceptualization stage refers to the internal process whereby the individual develops the desire to communicate
Language Both Malcolm X and Richard Rodriguez frame language in terms of political and social power. Malcolm X and Richard Rodriguez both comment on the power of language to demark social status. Language is also a form of empowerment, both personal and political. Rodriguez focuses on the social and political implications of bilingualism. The author shows that in the United States, English is the language of the dominant culture and all other
The evidence for the biological basis of language is strong, however; researchers have found that newborn infants thought to be at a stage of development that precluded language abilities have been shown to recognize and express interest in spoken syllabic patterns over randomized syllables, and to retain that recognition over long periods of time (Gervain et al. 2008). The authors of this study conclude that the newborn brain is
Consider the fact that the Iroquois are said not to have had a strong word for the singular "I," and that they subsequently developed what was arguably the longest lasting communal representative democracy the world has ever known. The Inuit, whose culture revolves around the arctic world, have dozens of words for snow - this sort of technical knowledge allows quick and accurate transmission of conditions and training in
The reality is that the universal grammar theory attempts to lay general structures that can be traced among languages. Therefore, if a constant 'X' is true then 'Y' will be equally true. It puts down how all languages expand when subjected to a given set of fundamental principles. With these principles, universal grammar enables us to try out word order prediction in languages, the phonemes, syntax etc. Several linguists hold