The Human Brain’s
Capacity for Language
by Don L. F. Nilsen, and
Alleen Pace Nilsen
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ANIMAL & HUMAN BRAINS (Heny 636)
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LEFT HEMISPHERE OF HUMAN BRAIN (Heny 639)
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LEFT HEMISPHERE
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 39)
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CORPUS CALLOSUM ALLOWS
Auditory Crossover
Visual Crossover
Arm- and Leg-Sensing Crossover
Left-Hemisphere Brain Crossover resulting in left-hemisphere
domination, esp. for right-handed people (Heny 646-647)
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With the corpus callosum intact, the two halves
of the body have no secrets from one
another. With it sectioned (as in severe
epilepsy), the two halves become two
different conscious mental spheres, each
with its own experience base and control
system for behavioral operations….
Unbelievably as this may seem, this is the
flavor of a long series of experimental studies
first carried out in the cat and monkey.”
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 46)
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THE CRITICAL AGE FOR
LANGUAGE LEARNING
For human babies, the brain is very flexible, and the left
hemisphere is not dominant. By the Critical Age, the left
hemisphere is dominant and Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area
become less adaptable to new language stimuli.
(Heny 649)
“The critical-age hypothesis assumes that language is biologically
based and states that the ability to learn a native language
develops within a fixed period, from birth to middle childhood.”
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 53)
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ANIMAL HANDEDNESS
“Among all nonhuman higher
primates, handedness is evenly
distributed—approximately fifty
percent of chimpanzees are
right-handed and fifty percent
left-handed.”
(Kemp and Smith 676)
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HUMAN HANDEDNESS
“In contrast, something like ninety
percent of human beings are
right handed—that is, left
hemisphere dominant.”
(Kemp and Smith 676).
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LATERALIZATION 1
The left hemisphere is dominant in most humans; however the following
people are more balanced:
Bilinguals, Especially Asians and users of Character-Writing-Systems
Deaf users of American Sign Language
Literate People
Left-Handed People
Women
(Clark 628,Heny 649-654)
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LATERALIZATION 2
Left Hemisphere Dominant:
Art Critics
Literary Critics
Music Critics
Right Hemisphere Balanced:
Artists
Authors
Musicians
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LEFT-BRAIN SPECIALTIES:
Analytical Processing
Temporal Relations
Speech Sounds
Mathematics
Intellectual Activities
(Heny 643)
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RIGHT-BRAIN SPECIALTIES:
Synthetic and Creative Activities
Holistic Processing, Gestalts, and Overall Patterns
Spatial Relations
Nonspeech Sounds
Music Appreciation
Emotion
(Heny 643)
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BROCA’S APHASIA
“Cookie jar…fall
over…chair…water…empty…ov…ov…[
Examiner: “overflow?”] Yeah.”
(Heny 637)
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People with Broca’s aphasia sometimes substitute
synonyms of the words they mean: freedom for
liberty, parrot for canary, overseas for abroad, long
for large, small for short, long for tall.
Or they may substitute the word in its wrong
grammatical category: decision for decide,
concealment for conceal, portrait for portray, bath
for bathe, dliscussion for discuss, and memory for
remember.
(Fromkin Rodman Hyams [2007] 64)
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BROCA’S APHASIA IS LIKE
TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH
Compare the Following:
Broca’s Aphasia
Children’s Language
Tarzan’s Language
The Lone Ranger’s friend Tonto’s Language
Genie’s Language
The Language of a Telegram
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WERNICKE’S APHASIA
Well, this is…mother is away here
workingout o’here to get her better, but
when she’s working, the two boys
looking in the other part. One their
small tile into her time here. She’s
working another time because she’s
getting, too.”
(Heny 638)
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People with Wernicke’s aphasia might use sentences like these
collected by Harry Whitaker:
There is under a horse a new sidesaddle.
In girls we see many happy days.
I’ll challenge a new bike.
I surprise no new glamour.
Is there three chairs in this room?
Mike and Peter is happy.
Bill and John likes hot dogs.
Proliferate is a complete time about a word that is correct.
Went came in better than it did before.
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WERNICKE’S APHASIA IS LIKE LEWIS
CARROLL’S JABBERWOCKY
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gire and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogroves
And the mome wraths, outgrabe.
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SLIPS OF THE TONGUE, EAR,
PEN, AND HAND
In 1973, Victoria Fromkin edited an important book entitled
Speech Errors as Linguistic Evidence.
In 1980, she edited another important book entitled Errors in
Linguistic Performance: Slips of the Tongue, Ear, Pen, and
Hand.
In these books, Fromkin shows how slips of the tongue, ear, pen
and hand (in signing) give important insights into the way the
human mind works.
Consider the following examples:
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CHILDREN’S BLOOPERS
Children are often faced with language that they are unfamiliar
with.
That’s why children may change “chess” into “chest.”
Or they may change the church hymn “Gladly the Cross I’d Bear”
into “Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear.”
And Hilliard Jason’s example of New York Children reciting the
Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into Penn Station.”
(Nilsen & Nilsen 7)
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CHILDREN’S EXCUSES FOR BEING
ABSENT
Mary could not come to school because she has been
bothered by very close veins.
Please excuse Jimmy for being. It was his father’s
fault.
Teacher, please excuse Mary for being absent. She
was sick and I had her shot.
(Nilsen & Nilsen 8)
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TOT: “Tip of the Tongue” Phenomenon: Sometimes
when we are searching for a word in our brain, we
come up with a near miss. The wrong word sounds
like, scans like, or has a similar meaning to the right
word:
“Queen Elizabeth was the ‘Virgin Queen….’ When
Elizabeth exposed herself before her troops, they all
shouted “hurrah.” Then her navy went out and
defeated the Spanish Armadillo.”
(Nilsen & Nilsen 7)
(From Richard Lederer’s Anguished English)
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“It was an age of great inventions and discoveries.
Gutenberg invented the Bible. Another important
invention was the circulation of blood. Sir Walter
Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented
cigarettes and started smoking. And Sir Frances
Drake circumsised the world with a 100-foot clipper.”
(Nilsen & Nilsen 7-8)
(From Richard Lederer’s Anguished English)
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YOGI BERRA
Yogi Berra was the catcher for the New York Yankees
baseball team. He said:
“I want to win 100 or 105 games this year—
whichever comes first.”
“It’s déjà vu all over again.”
“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”
Yogi Berra was the inspiration for the cartoon
character on television named “Yogi Bear.”
For additional examples, please contact Hilliard Jason
at hjason@me.com
(Nilsen & Nilsen 9)
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ARCHIE BUNKER
In All in the Family, Archie Bunker’s mistakes
showed that he was a xenophobic bigot:
Milton Berlin, Morgan David wine, Blackberry Finn,
pushy imported ricans, and a regular Marco
Polish showed he was racist.
Englebum Humperdunk and welfare incipients
showed he was uneducated.
The immaculate connection, Dunn and Broadstreet,
and groinocologist showed he was sexist.
(Nilsen & Nilsen 8)
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SIGMUND FREUD
Sigmund Freud said that slips of the tongue often are
evidence of people’s subconscious desires, as when
the President of the Lower House of Parliament
opened a meeting by saying:
“Gentlemen, I take notice that a full quorum of
members is present and herewith declare the
meeting closed.”
(Nilsen & Nilsen 8)
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!SAMUEL GOLDWYN
Samuel Goldwyn of Metro Goldwyn Meyer said:
A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named William.
For your information, I would like to ask a question.
Now, gentlemen, listen slowly.
(Nilsen & Nilsen 9)
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!!WILLIAM A. SPOONER
British clergyman William A. Spooner
was a professor at Oxford University
who is reported to have said:
“Three cheers for our queer old dean”
(referring to Queen Victoria)
“Is it kistomary to cuss the bride?”
“Stop hissing all my mystery lectures.”
(Nilsen & Nilsen 9)
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!!!CASEY STENGEL
Casey Stengel, the manager of the New
York Yankees baseball team, said:
“I guess I’ll have to start from scraps.”
“Everybody line up alphabetically according
to your height.”
(Nilsen & Nilsen 9)
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Web Sites of Eccentrics:
Eccentrics:
http://www.eccentricneworleans.com/gallery_of_eccentrics.htm
Monk:
http://video.usanetwork.com/player/?id=24093
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Related PowerPoints
Gender Humor
Gerontology and Humor
Humor Theories
Humor Web Sites
Laughter
Music and Humor
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References # 1:
Bickerton, Derek. “The Continuity Paradox” (Clark, 681702).
Clark, Virginia, Paul Eschholz, and Alfred Rosa.
Language: Readings in Language and Culture, 6th
Edition. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Crystal, David. “Language and Thought” (Clark, 629633).
Fingeroth, D. Superman on the Couch. New York, NY:
Continuum, 2004.
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Fromkin, Victoria A., ed. Errors in Linguistic Performance: Slips of
the Tongue, Ear, Pen, and Hand. New York: Academic Press,
1980.
Fromkin, Victoria A., ed. Speech Errors as Linguistic Evidence.
The Hague: Mouton, 1973.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams. “Brain and
Language.” An Introduction to Language, 8th Edition. Boston,
MA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007, 35-70; 9th edition, 2011, 43-75.
Gazzaniga, M. The Bisected Brain. New York, NY: AppletonCentury-Crofts, 1970.
Heny, Jeannine. “Brain and Language (Clark, 634-657).
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Jackson, Hilliard. “Humor and Health.” personal email: May 8, 2010.
Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen.
Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor.
Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000.
Raskin, Victor, ed. The Primer of Humor Research.
New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter, 2008.
Raskin, Victor. “Theory of Humor and Practice of
Humor Research: Editor’s Notes.” in Raskin 1-16.
Ruch, Willibald. “Psychology of Humor” in Raskin
(2008) 17-100.
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