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1、LanguageandBrainbyStephenCrainoftheUniversityofMaryland,CollegeParkTheDomainofStudyManylinguisticsdepartmentsofferacourseentitled'LanguageandBrain'or'LanguageandMind.'Suchacourseexaminestherelationshipbetweenlinguistictheoriesandactuallanguageusebychildrenandadults.Findingsar
2、epresentedfromresearchonavarietyoftopics,includingthecourseoflanguagedevelopment,languageproductionandunderstanding,andthenatureoflanguagebreakdownduetobraininjury.Thesetopicsprovideexamplesofwhatiscurrentlyknownaboutlanguageandthemind,andtheyofferinsightsintothecentralissues
3、inthisareaoflinguisticresearch.Languageisasignificantpartofwhatmakesushuman,alongwithothercognitiveskillssuchasmathematicalandspatialreasoning,musicalanddrawingability,thecapacitytoformsocialrelationships,andthelike.Aswiththeseothercognitiveskills,linguisticbehaviorisopentoin
4、vestigationusingthefamiliartoolsofobservationandexperimentation.Itiswrong,however,toexaggeratethesimilaritybetweenlanguageandothercognitiveskills,becauselanguagestandsapartinseveralways.Foronething,theuseoflanguageisuniversal--allnormallydevelopingchildrenlearntospeakatleasto
5、nelanguage,andmanylearnmorethanone.Bycontrast,noteveryonebecomesproficientatcomplexmathematicalreasoning,fewpeoplelearntopaintwell,andmanypeoplecannotcarryatune.Becauseeveryoneiscapableoflearningtospeakandunderstandlanguage,itmayseemtobesimple.Butjusttheoppositeistrue--langua
6、geisoneofthemostcomplexofallhumancognitiveabilities.TheLanguageInstinctEvenoutsidethelaboratory,onecanmakemanyinterestingobservationsthatonecanmakeaboutthecourseoflanguagedevelopment.Manyofthemostcomplexaspectsoflanguagearemasteredbythree-andfour-year-oldchildren.Itisastonish
7、ingformostparentstowatchtheprocessunfold.Whatmanyparentsdon'trealizeisthatallchildrenfollowroughlythesamepathinlanguagedevelopment.Andallchildrenreachessentiallymanyofthesameconclusionsaboutlanguage,despitedifferencesinexperience.Allpreschoolchildren,forexample,havemasteredse
8、veralcomplexaspectsofthesyntaxandsemanticsofthelanguagetheyarelearni