People have to use more of their brain to understand Mandarin (emphasis mine)
Do highly trained speakers with very musical voices use the right brain at all? ...And if they do, then the rest of us might a little
Speech and language centres are located in the LEFT hemisphere of the brain in well over 95 percent of all right handed people. However, paralanguage, whish is the associations of language like melody, intonation, pitch, rhythm, gesturing, expressions are predominantly controlled by the RIGHT brain. ALL of us, whatever language we speak, use both the right brain and the left brain to converse. Speakers of languages (like Mandarin), that place great emphasis on intonation would use their right brain more *frequently, or rather, their right brains probably demonstrate more *constant activity during conversation, than ours. As to whether, this translates into more integrated circuitry between the right and the left halves of the brain is not, as yet, established (to the best of my knowledge, but I am not on top of the latest research in this field)
Stroke in the left brain in Broca's area, Wernicke's area and their association areas affects speech and language. The degree to which these faculties are impaired and recovery therefore, depends on the type and extent of the injury. Specific functions have been assigned to each of these areas, (Borca's (frontal)- speech production; Wernickes' (temporal) - speech comprehension) and so, clincial assessment of the different presentations of aphasia, itself can predict location of the injury, even prior to brain imaging.
Stroke in the right brain in the mirror locations of the left's speech and language areas, results in a condition called, "Aprosodia", which, as the name suggests, is associated with loss of the paralanguage components of language. Aprosodia patients have loss of intonation, rhythm, pitch, gesturing, expression, etc.
Also, in many patients with stroke in the left brain's speech and language areas, the right brain does, compensatorily, increase its activity and, consequently, aids recovery of function.
A *most interesting thread, Bingley; thank you.
