For this Wednesday 11/14 and Friday 11/16, please read the following (the latter two can be downloaded from the “Readings” section of this website):
- Chapter 11 of the Jackendoff book Patterns in the Mind
- Optional: Hickok, Gregory, Ursula Bellugi & Edward S. Klima. 2001. Sign language in the brain. Scientific American 284(6): 58-65.
- Optional: Sacks, Oliver. 2005, Oct. 31. Recalled to life. The New Yorker.
As indicated above, the second and third readings are optional. They are both quite interesting and informative, however, and so I highly recommend that you read them if you have some time.
The article by Hickok et al. describes recent advances in our understanding of how the linguistic abilities of deaf signers are realized in the brain; those of you with an interest in neuropsychology or neuroscience will likely enjoy this reading.
The final article by Oliver Sacks provides a moving account of the sorts of disruptions to everyday life that can arise when an individual’s language abilities are affected by traumatic brain injury.