On Lexical Properties, Syntax, and Brain Damage

Abstract

This manuscript describes how lexical and syntactic properties contribute to the process of producing and understanding sentences. The logic to our approach takes the following line: We assume that language processing exploits a mind/brain data base consisting of representations, rules, and principles specific to the language domain. Our best bet on the proper characterization of this data base is given by linguistic theory. We thus use aspects of a linguistic theory as a set of deductions about how sentence processing might operate. We also use the information gleaned from investigations of normal language representation and processing to help investigate what goes awry in the language system subsequent to brain damage, and to develop targets for treatment. In principle we can also use the evidence gathered from our neurolinguistic studies to further develop normal models of sentence production and comprehension. We begin with some representational issues; we follow with a discussion of sentence comprehension in both normal and disordered populations and end with a discussion of our work in sentence production.