Language "locations" in the brain

Lise Menn, Linguistics, CU Boulder lmenn at CLIPR.COLORADO.EDU
Tue Sep 30 04:08:46 UTC 1997


This is probably oversimplified, but it's not an unreasonable result
given earlier indications that late bilinguals had a more bilateral
representation of language than early bilinguals (using one-hand motor
tasks as indicators of hemispheric involvement), and given Damasio's
claims that meaning of words with concrete referents is represented in a
way that is linked to our sensory experience of those referents (hence,
language-independent). I haven't read the original article yet, though.
Lise Menn

On Mon, 29 Sep 1997, George Elgin, Suzette Haden Elgin wrote:

> I would very much appreciate hearing something from the knowledgeable
> members of Funknet about their reaction to the recent (July 10, 1997)
> report in *Nature*  (and media worldwide) that persons who learn more than
> one language as infants store them in a single location in the brain while
> those who learn additional languages as adults store them in separate
> locations in the brain. (Brutal summary, I know, but enough to identify the
> topic in question.) The research was done using functional MRIs,
> pre-surgery.  Could I have some reactions? And a reaction to the claim that
> no matter how many separate areas of this sort are established, the
> "semantics" of all languages acquired is stored in a single area? Thanks
> for your help....
>
> Suzette Haden Elgin
> ocls at ipa.net
>



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