Linguistics Encyclopedia.pdf

Language pathology and
neurolinguistics
Language pathology is a convenient cover term for the study of all aspects of language
disorders. As such, it includes the main disciplines involved, namely medical science
(especially neuroanatomy and physiology) psychology (especially neuropsychology and
cognitive psychology), linguistics, and education. It also covers all categories of disorder,
including developmental as well as acquired disorders, disorders that are associated with
other deficits such as hearing impairment or structural abnormality (such as cleft palate),
or mental handicap, as well as those that are ‘pure’ language disorders. It comprises
disorders that can be characterized at all levels of language structure and function, from
articulatory and auditory speech-signal processing to problems of meaning, and it
includes all modalities of language use, in production and comprehension, as represented
through such media as speech, writing, and signing. Finally, it includes research and all
aspects of intervention, from initial screening and diagnosis, through more extensive
assessment procedures, to therapeutic management and remedial teaching.
Thus, many different professions are involved in the field of language pathology,
including speech therapy (see SPEECH THERAPY), normal and special education,
clinical and educational psychology, aphasiology (see below and APHASIA), pediatrics,
ENT surgery and neurosurgery, audiology, and linguistics.
Within this field, certain historical factors have made a lasting impression. The
medical approach was an early influence in the characterization of certain aspects of
language disorder, particularly in the field of aphasiology which is concerned with
acquired disorders associated with neurological damage. Within this approach people
having language disorders are regarded as patients, and classification proceeds from the
identification of symptoms to a diagnosis in terms of syndromes. Syndromes are
symptom complexes which have a systematic internal relationship such that the presence
of certain symptoms guarantees the presence or absence of certain others (see
APHASIA).
A further characteristic of the medical approach is the categorization of language
disorders in terms of their aetiology; thus, developmental disorders may be linked to
difficulties noted with the mother’s pregnancy, the delivery, or subsequent childhood
illness, such as otitis media or ‘glue ear’, while acquired disorders may be linked to site
of brain lesions, and the type of brain damage arising from either external sources—
gunshot wounds yielding more focal destruction of brain tissue than ‘closed head’
injuries sustained in road traffic accidents, for example—or by diseases such as tumour or
degenerative conditions such as Parkinsonism,
The psychological approach has also had considerable influence. The tendency here
has been coloured by the dominant tradition, but it is possible to discern a consistent
emphasis on language as possibly the most accessible, subtle, and complex form of overt
human behaviour. Disorders in a complex system may provide valuable information on