Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

Dictionary of language and linguistics 660LarzacCelticlateral [Lat. lateralis ‘of/on the side of abody’]Speech sound classified according to its manner in which the airstream bypasses itsobstruction (namely, around openings on either side of the tongue) in contrast withmedians. For example, in the approximants [1] and [ł] in Brit. Eng. [lιtł] little and in thefricative and the approximant [1] in ‘wasteful’ or [-la] ‘to come’ in the Sino-Tibetan language Yi. In Yaragia, a language spoken in New Guinea, there is a velarlateral. Laterals can function as nuclei ( nucleus) of syllables, e.g. [1] in Czech[‘plzen] ‘Pilsen.’ In English, laterals are formed with the pulmonary airstreammechanism. The Khoisan language of Nama has lateral clicks.phoneticsReferenceslateralizationIn neuropsychology, functional specialization of both hemispheres of the brain withregard to information processing and, in particular, language processing. Lateralizationof such functions differs from individual to individual and varies according to ability(thus, for example, receptive abilities seem to be less strongly lateralized than expressiveones). In spite of such variation, the global assignment of specific processing abilities toparticular hemispheres has been confirmed: analytical processes tend to be left-brain, andsynthetic (or holistic) processes right-brain. Thus, syntactic and phonological processesare ascribed rather to the left hemisphere, while processing of pragmatic information, therecognition and comprehension of sentence melody as well as the recognition of nonlinguisticsounds have been ascribed more to the right hemisphere. The specialization ofanalytical and holistic processes leads to differences in the lateralization of individualabilities and skills. For instance, people who have been educated in music will tend toprocess melodies in the left hemisphere, while those with no such education will use theright half of their brain. Due to the fact that the neural pathways for hearing and visionare both ipsi- and contralateral (because of cross-over), information can be picked up byboth sides, but it will be processed primarily contralaterally. Hence, lateralization does