COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE & SPEECH

Flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on communication, language, speech, hearing, brain anatomy, disorders, and related terminology.

What is communication?

Any exchange of meaning between a sender and a receiver.

What is language?

A standard set of symbols (sounds or letters) and the rules for combining those symbols into words, sentences, and texts to convey ideas and feelings.

What is speech?

The oral form of language.

What modalities can convey communication?

Spoken, written, signed, and other systems such as using flags.

What are the main building blocks of language?

Phonemes, morphemes, and syntax.

What is a phoneme?

The building-block sound of a language.

What is a morpheme?

A meaningful unit in language; smallest unit with semantic or grammatical meaning.

What is syntax?

Rules for how words are arranged to form phrases and sentences.

What cognitive processes are involved in language?

Choosing words and semantics; planning and processing meaning.

What is unique about speech as a form of language?

Speech is the oral form of language and is a physical process; words and meanings are chosen before speaking.

Which brain areas are involved in starting the motor production of speech?

Frontal lobe (including the motor strip) and Broca’s area.

What structures are involved in respiration for speech?

Lungs and respiratory muscles (diaphragm, chest muscles) to control airflow.

What is phonation?

Vibration of the vocal folds in the larynx to produce voiced sound.

What do resonance and articulation do in speech?

Resonance shapes sound via the oral/nasal cavities; articulation involves placing and shaping the articulators to produce phonemes.

What parts of the ear and brain are involved in hearing?

Outer ear collects sound, middle ear transduces to fluid, cochlea converts to neural signals; brain interprets signals (A1 and beyond).

What is the Primary Auditory Cortex (A1/Heschl’s gyrus)?

Brain region where basic sound is processed.

What is Wernicke’s area responsible for?

Understanding speech.

What is Broca’s area responsible for?

Production of speech.

What are the main components of the central nervous system related to communication?

Brain and spinal cord; CNS coordinates language, movement, and perception.

What are the four major lobes of the cerebrum?

Frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital (insula is sometimes listed).

How do neurons communicate within the brain?

Via electrochemical signals; neurotransmitters cross the synapse to propagate the signal.

What is the role of the diaphragm in speech?

Regulates airflow for conversational speech; contracts to bring air in.

What is articulation in speech?

The motor production of speech sounds, including voicing, place, and manner of articulation.

What is resonance in speech?

Shaping and coloring of sound by the vocal tract (mouth and nasal cavities) to affect timbre.

What are voicing, manner, and place in articulation?

Voicing distinguishes sounds (e.g., /p/ vs /b/); manner describes how airflow is constricted; place describes where in the vocal tract constriction occurs.

What is hypernasality?

Excessive nasal resonance in the voice.

What is hyponasality?

Insufficient nasal resonance in the voice.

What is the difference between articulation and phonology disorders?

Articulation disorders involve motor production of individual sounds; phonological disorders involve patterns of sound errors in the sound system.

What are motor speech disorders?

Disorders affecting the motor aspects of speech production, including fluency disorders (stuttering, cluttering) and voice disorders (dysphonia, aphonia).

What are receptive and expressive language disorders?

Receptive: difficulty understanding language. Expressive: difficulty using language to express meaning.

What are literacy disorders?

Reading disorders and writing disorders.

What are cognitive or developmental vs acquired disorders in communication?

Cognition/disorders affect thinking/processes; Developmental disorders involve delays in S/L development; Acquired disorders occur after normal development due to an outside cause.

What are the main types of hearing loss?

Conductive, sensorineural, and mixed hearing loss.

What is People-First Language?

Language that puts the person before the disability (e.g., 'a person with autism').

What is impairment vs disability vs difference?

Impairment is a loss of function or anatomy; disability is decreased ability to function; a difference is a non-disordered variation (e.g., ESL or accent).

What are the categories of communication disorders?

Organic (physical), Functional (no physical cause), Developmental (delays), Acquired (later onset).