We often take the abilities of speech and language for granted – we quickly learn to talk as children, understanding complexities within our native language at a young age, so that it soon becomes second nature.
But because of this, we can fail to appreciate the work which goes behind the scenes, the processes in our brains which allow us to speak to friends, verbalize our thoughts, read a book, pen a letter, write a tweet or learn a new language.
Without these amazing processes we would be unable to talk, understand or communicate in an effective, human way.
Thanks to scientists, linguists and psychologists we now have a greater understanding of the language process and the areas within the brain which play a part in language and speech.
Read on to find out the amazing science behind human speech and language…
1. What makes human language special?
Our language abilities separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom, whose language is limited to repetitive acts (such as, warning of predators or seeking food) and lacks any formal grammatical structure.
According to Professor Mark Pagel, at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading,
“Human language is distinct from all other known animal forms of communication in being compositional. Human language allows speakers to express thoughts in sentences comprising subjects, verbs and objects—such as ‘I kicked the ball’—and recognizing past, present and future tenses.”
“Compositionality gives human language an endless capacity for generating new sentences as speakers combine and recombine sets of words into their subject, verb and object roles. For instance, with just 25 different words for each role, it is already possible to generate over 15,000 distinct sentences. Human language is also referential, meaning speakers use it to exchange specific information with each other about people or objects and their locations or actions.”
2. Where is language located in the brain?
Research has identified two primary language centres within the brain.
Both of them are located on the left side of our brain which is thought to be responsible for speech and abstract thinking, and for controlling the right side of the body.
The two language centres are:
Broca’s area – tasked with directing the processes that lead to speech utterance
Wernicke’s area – whose role is to decode speech
Research suggests that learning new languages effects the brain by boosting the size and activity of areas separate from the two traditional language centres above.
Results of the study, led by researchers from Lund University in Sweden, found that interpreter students had “increases in hippocampus volume and in cortical thickness of the left middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus” compared to the control sample.
Their findings confirm that learning a new language, particularly mastering an additional language, will increase growth of the hippocampus, and can make it easier for our brains to process and retain new information.
3. How does language alter our perception?
Languages are living things, that change with time, and are intricately linked to the culture within which they are based.
This means that our experience of the world, and how we express that through our language, changes based upon our language and culture.
For example, research suggests that the language within which a bi-lingual person is immersed at a given moment, will affect how they perceive and explain a particular event.
This means that a bi-lingual Arabic and English speaker will perceive an event differently depending upon whether they are using predominantly English or Arabic in that moment.
As we speak a different language, so our thoughts and perceived experiences subtly shift to become more aligned with the language.
The power of language to influence our behaviour and thoughts is immense, shaping how we think about ourselves, others, and the world around us.
The science behind speech and language really is amazing!
