Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “LINGUISTICS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,657 records · Page 92Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Neuroanatomical correlates of human reasoning.

One of the important questions cognitive theories of reasoning must address is whether logical reasoning is inherently sentential or spatial. A sentential model would exploit nonspatial (linguistic) properties of representations whereas a spatial model would exploit spatial properties of representations. In general terms, the linguistic hypothesis predicts that the language processing regions underwrite human reasoning processes, and the spatial hypothesis suggests that the neural structures for perception and motor control contribute the basic representational building blocks used for high-level logical and linguistic reasoning. We carried out a [(15)O] H(2)O PET imaging study to address this issue. Twelve normal volunteers performed three types of deductive reasoning tasks (categorical syllogisms, three-term spatial relational items, and three-term nonspatial relational items) while their regional cerebral blood flow pattern was recorded using [(15)O] H(2)O PET imaging. In the control condition subjects semantically comprehended sets of three sentences. In the deductive reasoning conditions subjects determined whether the third sentence was entailed by the first two sentences. The areas of activation in each reasoning condition were confined to the left hemisphere and were similar to each other and to activation reported in previous studies. They included the left inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 45, 47), a portion of the left middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 46), the left middle temporal gyrus (Brodmann areas 21, 22), a region of the left lateral inferior temporal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus (Brodmann areas 22, 37), and a portion of the left cingulate gyrus (Brodmann areas 32, 24). There was no significant right-hemisphere or parietal activation. These results are consistent with previous neuroimaging studies and raise questions about the level of involvement of classic spatial regions in reasoning about linguistically presented spatial relations.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

A test of the multiple connections model of reading acquisition.

Within the framework of Society of Mind Theory (Minsky, 1986), learning to read is conceptualized as a process of creating new communication links or neural connections between an existing visual society and an existing linguistic society. Four visual-linguistic connections may become functional: letter-phonemic code, whole word-semantic code, whole word-name code, letter sequence-aural syllabic code. The hypothesis was tested that more than one of these visual-linguistic connections must be taken into account in predicting reading achievement. Results showed that the combination of the composite letter-phoneme variable and the composite whole word-semantic code variable accounted for significantly more variance in oral reading than did either single variable at the end of the first grade. Groups with large absolute discrepancy (1 or more standard scores) or small absolute discrepancy (1/3 standard score or less) on corresponding visual and linguistic skills differed significantly in both oral (whole word-semantic code composite) and silent reading (whole word-semantic code and letter sequence-aural syllabic code composites). There was a relationship between the number of large discrepancies and reading achievement. Results are discussed in reference to neuropsychological models of connectionism (Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986) and working brain systems (Luria, 1973).

Child↗
PubMed2004

A contrastive view of Irish language dynamics.

This paper presents an analysis of the linguistic anthropology which underpins the language dynamics of two Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas, Ros Muc in Conamara, Co. Galway and Ráth Cairn in Co. Meath. This research highlights what could be considered a socio-linguistic paradox: the community (Ráth Cairn) which engages more vigorously in language maintenance endeavors, and exhibits a greater awareness of language policy and of linguistic ideology among members of the community, fares less favorably in socio-linguistic terms to the contrasting community (Ros Muc) which has to endure a more challenging socio-economic climate than that of Ráth Cairn. The relative socio-economic success of the Ráth Cairn community appears to be masking a greater malaise of socio-cultural fragility and language endangerment. In contrast, the language obsolescence issues faced by the Ros Muc community, though superficially not as severe, are enmeshed in what would be considered more pressing issues of socio-economic marginalization.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Inter-sex and intra-sex differences in quantitative digital dermatoglyphics of Sardinian-speaking groups.

In this study, we analysed inter-sex differences within two linguistic groups from the Sardinian linguistic area and intra-sex differences between the two groups by means of 41 quantitative digital dermatoglyphic variables: 20 digital dermatoglyphic traits (radial and ulnar ridge counts on each of the 10 fingers), 15 digital dermatoglyphic directional asymmetry variables, total finger ridge count, bilateral summed radial and ulnar finger ridge counts, an index of asymmetry between homologous fingers, and two indices of intra-individual diversity of finger ridge counts. The comparisons between males and females within the same linguistic groups and between the males of the two groups and the females of the two groups were carried out with the Mann-Whitney test at a prefixed level of alpha = 0.05, using the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. The results indicate a strong similarity of the two linguistic groups in the inter-sex differences, whereas there are no significant differences between them for either males or females. The similar pattern of sexual dimorphism and the homogeneity of the males and females of the two groups suggest a common genetic matrix of these Sardinian-speaking groups.

Cultural Evolution↗
PubMed1977

[Prognosis in severe dyslexia].

37 children with a mean reading retardation of 4,3 years were placed full time in a specialized centre. All had failed in school in spite of remedial training and/or psychotherapy. The goal of the centre is to separate linguistic and non-linguistic subjects. The non-linguistic subjects were taught with the aid of audio-visual methods in order to relieve the dyslexics of the burden of written language. If progress with reading and spelling was slow, audio-visual instruction enabled these children to reach or exceed 5th grade level in non-linguistic subjects. 80% of them were able to go on to vocational schools. At the same time, there was a very favorable improvement in their behavior (P less than 0.001), which is a prerequisite in the prevention of juvenile delinquency and an essential step in social and professional integration. These favorable results emphasize the part audio-visual instruction should play in severe dyslexia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Care: what it means to Iranian immigrants in New South Wales, Australia.

Discoveries of linguistic terms relating to care/caring can create better understanding of diversities in expression and experiences of care of different cultures. Such linguistic understandings and discovery of "meaning-in-context" can enhance communication toward unity in light of diversity. In order to gain an understanding of expression of care/caring for Iranian immigrants in New South Wales, Australia, linguistic terms in the Persian language as discovered are described. The study, conceptualised within Leininger's theory of Culture Care diversity and universality led to the discovery of 31 linguistic care terms in the Persian language, reflecting the emic view of care for Iranian Immigrants in multicultural Australia. Using Leininger's ethnonursing research method and in depth naturalistic interviews, five types of care were abstracted from recurrent patterning and saturation according to type and meaning of care were discovered and described. The five categories describe care as: action; (hamoyat, parastari), thoughts; (ba-fakr-ham-boodan), reflecting family ties; (hambastegie), care as being Iranian, reflecting Iranian identity; (inhamani, hamonandi). Finally, care as related to context and expressed in safety and peace; (amnieyat, aramash), describing Australia as a safe and peaceful place to live. This paper will attempt to share an Iranian immigrants' emic view of care.

Cultural Diversity↗
PubMed1997

Unilateral brain damage, prosodic comprehension deficits, and the acoustic cues to prosody.

Stimuli from two previously presented comprehension tasks of affective and linguistic prosody (Pell & Baum, 1997) were analyzed acoustically and subjected to several discriminant function analyses, following Van Lancker and Sidtis (1992). An analysis of the errors made on these tasks by left-hemisphere-damaged (LHD) and right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) subjects examined whether each clinical group relied on specific (and potentially different) acoustic features in comprehending prosodic stimuli (Van Lancker & Sidtis, 1992). Analyses also indicated whether the brain-damaged patients tested in Pell and Baum (1997) exhibited perceptual impairments in the processing of intonation. Acoustic analyses of the utterances reaffirmed the importance of F0 cues in signaling affective and linguistic prosody. Analyses of subjects' affective misclassifications did not suggest that LHD and RHD patients were biased by different sets of the acoustic features to prosody in judging their meaning, in contrast to Van Lancker and Sidtis (1992). However, qualitative differences were noted in the ability of LHD and RHD patients to identify linguistic prosody, indicating that LHD subjects may be specifically impaired in decoding linguistically defined categorical features of prosodic patterns.

Affect↗
PubMed1999

Discourse deficits following right hemisphere damage in deaf signers.

Previous findings have demonstrated that hemispheric organization in deaf users of American Sign Language (ASL) parallels that of the hearing population, with the left hemisphere showing dominance for grammatical linguistic functions and the right hemisphere showing specialization for non-linguistic spatial functions. The present study addresses two further questions: first, do extra-grammatical discourse functions in deaf signers show the same right-hemisphere dominance observed for discourse functions in hearing subjects; and second, do discourse functions in ASL that employ spatial relations depend upon more general intact spatial cognitive abilities? We report findings from two right-hemisphere damaged deaf signers, both of whom show disruption of discourse functions in absence of any disruption of grammatical functions. The exact nature of the disruption differs for the two subjects, however. Subject AR shows difficulty in maintaining topical coherence, while SJ shows difficulty in employing spatial discourse devices. Further, the two subjects are equally impaired on non-linguistic spatial tasks, indicating that spared spatial discourse functions can occur even when more general spatial cognition is disrupted. We conclude that, as in the hearing population, discourse functions involve the right hemisphere; that distinct discourse functions can be dissociated from one another in ASL; and that brain organization for linguistic spatial devices is driven by its functional role in language processing, rather than by its surface, spatial characteristics.

Aged↗
PubMed1982

Cognitive processes, school achievement, and comprehension of ambiguous sentences.

Previous research has identified three distinct forms of linguistic ambiguity: lexical, surface structural, and deep structural. Cummins and Das (1978) studied these forms of ambiguity in the context of Das, Kirby and Jarman's (1979) model of simultaneous and successive processing, and demonstrated that comprehension of lexical ambiguity depended upon simultaneous processing, while that of surface and deep structural ambiguity depended upon successive processing. The present study investigated the relationship between these cognitive and linguistic processes in a group of older children. The subjects' level of English achievement was also considered. The results showed that comprehension of all three forms of ambiguity was strongly related to level of English achievement, though deep structure ambiguities best descriminated the English achievement groups. Results also showed that perception of all types of ambiguity was related to both simultaneous and successive processing. Subjects with high successive processing scores had an additional advantage in perceiving deep structure ambiguities. These results suggest the need for an elaboration of the Cummins and Das cognitive process model of linguistic processes, demonstrating that a variety of task variables can alter the cognitive processes required in performance of linguistic tasks.

Achievement↗
PubMed1997

Lateralized processing of speech prosodies in the temporal cortex: a 3-T functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Prosodic modulation of speech provides information about emotional states of speakers (affective prosodies) or serves as syntactic markers to change linguistic aspects of speech (linguistic prosodies). Previous electrophysiological investigations and studies on patients with right or left hemisphere damage showed nonuniform results with respect to lateralization of prosodic processing. In this study 20 healthy right-handed volunteers were investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging of the acoustically responsive areas on the supratemporal plane while detecting phonemes as control targets or prosodies in strings of nonsense syllables and adjectives, the latter randomly intonated in a declarative, interrogative, commanding, happy, or sad fashion. In control task A the phoneme /a/ was detected in the syllables. In control task B the phoneme /a/ was detected in the adjectives, and in the experimental task C the sad intonations (affective) and in the experimental task D the interrogative intonations (linguistic) had to be detected in the same material. In task A intensity-weighted volumes of activated voxels were not different in the two hemispheres (laterality index 0). In task B with an irrelevant phoneme detection with respect to prosodic material, the population split into two subgroups with similar right or left hemispheric lateralization of activity leading to an absolute laterality index of 26.8 across all subjects. During detection of affective prosodies (task C), lateralization was maintained yet the absolute laterality index reduced to 14.5, while there was no lateralization during detection of linguistic prosodies. The sum of activations in the two hemispheres was the same across all tasks and subgroups, which suggests that the lateralizations occurring with presentation and detection of prosodic material depend on a redistribution of activity between hemispheres.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

What happens between an external stimulus and an overt response? A study of covert behavior.

Peripheral components of feedthrough loops were psychophysiologically measured from the brain, both forelimbs, the tongue and the eyes during simple and choice reaction time tasks using linguistic and non-linguistic stimuli. Closing a microswitch with the little finger was the overt response. Covert electromyographic (EMG) responses were computer identified in the following average temporal order: generally, the earliest covert reactions were in the tongue, brain, eyes, and passive arm-hand region. Next were complex EMG events in the active limb. These covert reactions may function in feedthrough loops to generate and transmit codes during internal information processing. The passive arm-hand responses occurred significantly earlier than the onset of the covert EMG burst for closing the microswitch; perhaps there is an inhibitory response "commanding" the passive arm not to respond, before the other (active) limb can overtly respond. Mean response patterns to linguistic and non-linguistic stimuli were almost identical. Reaction time to the onset of the EMG burst for switch closing was from 40 to 95 milliseconds earlier than the usual overt reaction time measure (that to switch closing), suggesting that reaction time studies might be improved by using the onset of EMG increase as the more sensitive and precise measure.

Brain↗
PubMed1983

Facet theory applied to the construction and validation of the Aachen Aphasia Test.

The linguistic performance of 120 aphasic patients of the four standard syndromes assessed by the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT) is analyzed by a nonmetric (ordinal) multidimensional scaling procedure (Smallest Space Analysis, SSA1). The linguistic structure of the test items is characterized within the framework of L. Guttman's facet theory. Three systematic components (facets) are discerned: linguistic modality, unit, and regularity. Properties of the facets as well as their relations are assessed and tested empirically by analyzing the interrelations among different items or sets of items. The spatial configurations obtained by the scaling procedure fit only partially the expectations derived from the facet-theory model. The modality facet was found to have a strong overriding influence on the aphasic test performance. The facets unit and regularity were only found for the most rigorously designed subtests. Written Language and Comprehension. The results suggest the introduction of a new combined facet linguistic complexity which reflects the dependency of the facets regularity and unit.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The effects of right and left hemiparkinsonism on prosody.

Recent studies show right hemisphere dominance in the mediation of emotional prosody and left hemisphere contribution to linguistic prosody in patients with cortical injury. The present study investigated emotional and linguistic functions of prosody as well as facial and musical processing in 21 patients with lateralized subcortical disease. Fourteen right hemiparkinsonians (RPD) and 7 left hemiparkinsonians (LPD) were compared to 17 normal controls (NC). Patients were impaired on receptive and expressive tests of emotional and linguistic prosody. Patients were also selectively impaired on emotional processing of facial stimuli and in the musical processing of pitch and tonal memory, though not timber. These findings suggest that monotone speech reported in PD is of multimodal origins and may involve dysfunction in neural centers involved in emotional and linguistic processing. There were no differences between RPD and LPD groups in the pattern of deficits, suggesting bilateral involvement in emotional processing at the subcortical level.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed1995

Selecting the language of the publications included in a meta-analysis: is there a Tower of Babel bias?

Although they usually claim a very thorough search to retrieve every pertinent work, most meta-analyses published in English restrict their search to papers which were also published in English. We reviewed all the meta-analyses printed from 1 January 1991 to 1 April 1993 in 8 medical journals published in English and selected those who stated linguistic restrictions for inclusion in the analysis. The computerized search methods used in these meta-analyses were then duplicated looking specifically for publications written in the excluded languages. Each meta-analysis was then redone with identical statistical tests to determine if its conclusions would have been different if the paper(s) absent only for linguistic reasons had been included. A total of 36 meta-analyses of which 28 had language restrictions were identified. The computer searches yielded 19 papers scientifically acceptable but excluded for linguistic reasons. Eleven of these articles were retained as having the potential to modify their corresponding 7 meta-analyses. One meta-analysis which concluded that selective decontamination of the digestive tract in intensive care units did not produce a significant change in mortality between treatment and control patients (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.45-1.09) would have arrived at a different conclusion (OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.47-0.95) if a paper written in German in a Swiss journal had been included in the analysis. Our study demonstrates that, in at least one out of 36 consecutive meta-analyses the exclusion of papers for linguistic reasons produced results different from those which would have been obtained if this exclusion criteria had not been used.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed2004

When only the right hemisphere is left: studies in language and communication.

An adult of above normal intelligence, BL, underwent left hemispherectomy at age five, and subsequently graduated from college and has been regularly employed. Using standardized neuropsychological instruments, previous extensive testing had revealed optimal performance for a hemispherectomized subject. To probe communicative abilities in greater detail, and to examine current questions about linguistic superiority of the left hemisphere and "crowding" of right hemisphere functions, 12 additional protocols were administered. BL performed at normal or above on nearly all protocols. However, performance on production of phonemically complex words was effortful, and deficits were seen on two tests requiring comprehension of linguistic contrasts in prosody (Linguistic Prosody Test) and syntax (the Active-Passive Test). These findings support previous claims of reduced ability in specific, circumscribed linguistic functions in the left hemispherectomized person, and lead to suggestions for further testing of communicative competence in individuals with a single intact hemisphere.

Anomia↗
PubMed2004

Cognitive and cognate-based treatments for bilingual aphasia: a case study.

Two consecutive treatments were conducted to investigate skill learning and generalization within and across cognitive-linguistic domains in a 62-year-old Spanish-English bilingual man with severe non-fluent aphasia. Treatment 1 was a cognitive-based treatment that emphasized non-linguistic skills, such as visual scanning, categorization, and simple arithmetic. Treatment 2 was a lexically based treatment that trained cognates (cross-linguistic word pairs that are similar in meaning and form, such as rosa/rose) and non-cognates (cross-linguistic word pairs with shared meaning but different forms, such as mesa/table). Treatment 1 resulted in modest gains in both Spanish and English. Treatment 2 resulted in improved naming for non-cognates as well as cognates within each language. However, the generalization of gains from Spanish to English was apparent only for cognate stimuli.

Aphasia↗
PubMed2006

Neural processing of observed oro-facial movements reflects multiple action encoding strategies in the human brain.

In this experiment, the oscillatory responses of the MEG were characterized during the observation of four viewing conditions: (a) observation of mouth movements, (b) observation of a non-biological motion stimulus (a mechanical aperture opening and shutting), (c) observation of object-directed mouth movements and (d) observation of speech-like mouth movements. Data were analyzed using synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) in three frequency bands, beta (15-35 Hz), gamma (35-70 Hz) and alpha/mu (8-15 Hz). Results showed that observations of biological motion resulted in beta desynchronization over lateral sensorimotor areas, while observations of non-biological motion resulted in a more medial desynchronization, an effect that may be related to the processing of a structured event sequence. Observation of linguistic movements resulted in less alpha/beta desynchronization in posterior brain regions in comparison to biological motion stimuli, suggesting that linguistically-relevant stimuli are processed with different neuronal systems than those recruited by normal action observation. We suggest that non-linguistic actions recruit dorsal systems while linguistic actions engage ventral processing systems. Object-directed movements showed the largest sensorimotor activations, suggesting that, as is the case for observations of hand movements, motoric processing is particularly sensitive to the viewing of goal-directed actions. Taken together, the results indicate that the brain utilizes multiple action encoding strategies, tailored to the function of the observed movement.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Nonword repetition abilities of children who stutter: an exploratory study.

UNLABELLED: Past research has suggested that children who stutter (CWS) may have less well-developed language skills than fluent children, and that such relative linguistic deficiencies may play a role in precipitating their disfluencies. However, data to support this position are primarily derived from results of standardized diagnostic inventories, which are originally designed to identify frank language impairment. Nonword repetition has emerged as a more sensitive measure of children's linguistic abilities. In this exploratory study, eight CWS (mean age 5:10, range 4:3-8:4) were compared to eight normally developing children (ND) (mean age 5:9, range 4:1-8:4) in their ability to repeat the nonwords of the Children's Test of Nonword Repetition. CWS performed more poorly than NS on measures of Number of Words Correct and Number of Phoneme Errors at all nonword lengths, although statistical differences were observed only for 3-syllable nonwords. When lexical stress of the nonwords was varied to a non-English stress pattern, all participants repeated the stimuli with less accuracy, and the CWS again exhibited more errors than NS. Fluency for the CWS group did not change systematically with increasing nonword length. These preliminary findings are interpreted in light of a number of extant theories of the underlying deficit in childhood stuttering. We conclude that children who stutter may have diminished ability to remember and/or reproduce novel phonological sequences, and that further investigation into this possibility may shed light on the emergence and characteristics of childhood stuttering. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: After completing this activity, the learner will: (1) be able to evaluate the research support for a linguistic component to stuttering; (2) describe the use of nonword repetition as an experimental and assessment device with children with SLI and children who stutter; (3) suggest future directions for research to further refine the potential role that linguistic encoding plays in the etiology and persistence of stuttering.

Case-Control Studies↗