Language and the Brain: A Slim Guide to Neurolinguistics

225 Pages·2022·31.465 MB·

by  Jonathan R. Brennan

Language and the Brain

Language
and the Brain
A SLIM GUIDE TO
NEUROLINGUISTICS
Jonathan R. Brennan
1
3
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©JonathanR.Brennan2022
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ForLisa

Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Listoffigures x
1. Introduction 1
2. Thetoolbox 18
3. Soundsinthebrain 44
4. Aneuralcodeforspeech 62
5. Activatingwords 82
6. Representingmeaning 100
7. Structureandprediction 116
8. Composingsentences 139
9. Buildingdependencies 156
10.Wrappingup 166
Abbreviations 174
Glossaryofterms 175
InternationalPhoneticAlphabetforEnglish 178
Notes 179
Figureacknowledgments 186
References 191
Index 204
Acknowledgments
Thisbookisonlypossibleduetotheinsight,generosity,andsupportofa
greatmanypeople.Tobegin,Ioweanindescribabledebttomymentors
fortheirtime,energy,andwisdomwhichgoesfarbeyondteachingme
“how to be a cognitive scientist” (they did that too): Liina Pylkka¨nen,
RobinQueen,andRickLewis.
Asanactualdocument,ratherthansomevagueideainthebackofmy
mind,Iamgratefulforandinaweofthehardworkandeditorialinsights
ofJuliaSteerandherteamatOUP.
Awonderfulaspectofmylittlecornerofscienceistheamazinggroup
of people who are working on all things relating to language, cogni-
tion,andthebrain.Iamveryluckytobeabletocallthesepeople“my
colleagues.”SpecialthanksgoestoDougBemis,JulieBoland,Suzanne
Dikker, Dave Embick, John Hale, Matt Husband, Ioulia Kovelman,
Ellen Lau, Lisa Levinson, Alec Marantz, Andrea Martin, Lars Meyer,
ChistophePallier,ColinPhillips,DavidPoeppel,HughRabagliati,Tim
Roberts,EdStabler,JonSprouse,SarahVanWagenen,MingXiang,and
EytanZweig.(Manymorenamescouldbeaddedtothisalreadylonglist.)
MyfriendandofficeneighborSamEpsteininparticularhadatremen-
dousinfluenceonmyunderstandingofhow(andhownot)tolinkbrains
andlanguage;Ionlywishhewereheretoreadtheresult.
Thebookdevelopedoutofdisorganizednotesandslidesthatfirstsur-
faced in the classroom. I’m lucky to have been joined there by many
spectacular students. If they are a reflection of the future of our field,
we’reinprettygreatshape.Almosteverypagebearssomeimpressionof
theconversationsfromthoseclasses,andfromwalkingdownthehall,
in the lab, or on the way to get a cup of coffee. In particular, Imust
acknowledge Jeonghwa Cho, Lauretta Cheng, Justin Craft, Tamarae
Hildebrandt,ChiawenLo,EmilySabo,Tzu-yunTung,NeelimaWagley,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
RachelWeissler,andalsostudentsatthe2013and2017LinguisticSo-
ciety of America Summer Schools, and the 2018 Linguistic Society of
KoreaWinterSchool.
Finally, there is no way – no way at all – this book would ever have
happened without the intellectual and emotional support of my part-
ner,LisaLevinson,andthetrulyboundlessenergyofourthreechildren.
Thankyou.