Language Disorders

Language disorders are selective impairments of language functions, often from focal brain damage.

• Anomia: difficulty naming things, you know what it is, you just can’t get the word
• Alexia: impaired reading
• Agraphia: impaired writing
• Alexia without agraphia: the strangest of the set, can write but can’t read what was just written
  • The writing output pathway is intact, but visual input to the language system is broken

Big takeaway

Language functions are separable: semantics vs syntax, comprehension vs production, reading vs writing. Language is strongly lateralized, usually to the left hemisphere.