ScienceDaily (July 8, 2009) — A new study carried out at the University of Haifa sheds light on how first and second languages are represented in the brain of a bilingual person. A unique single case study that was tested by Dr. Raphiq Ibrahim of the Department of Learning Disabilities and published in the Behavioral and Brain Functions journal, showed that first and second languages are represented in different places in the brain.

The question of how different languages are represented in the human brain is still unclear and, moreover, it is not certain how languages of different and similar linguistic structures are represented. Many studies have found evidence that all the languages that we acquire in the course of our life are represented in one area of the brain. However, other studies have found evidence that a second language is dissociated from the representation of a mother tongue.

According to Dr. Ibrahim, there are various ways of clarifying this question, but the best way to examine the brain’s representation of two languages is by assessing the effects of brain damage on a mother tongue and on the second language of the bilingual individual. “The examination of such cases carries much significance, since it is rare that we can find people who fluently speak two languages and who have sustained brain damage that has selectively affected one of the languages. Moreover, most of the evidence in this field is derived from clinical observations of brain damage in English- and Indo-European-speaking patients, and few studies have been carried out on individuals who speak other languages, especially Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, until the present study,” he added.
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Wednesday, July 01, 2009. BY LISA CAROLIN

Terri Thompson was working out at a gym with her sister in January 2007 when her world suddenly changed.

Thompson, 49, of Putnam Township, suffered a stroke and, although she received medical attention quickly, she couldn’t move her right arm and leg, and she couldn’t speak.

This loss of speech is called aphasia, a language disorder resulting from damage to parts of the brain. Thompson could comprehend what was going on and she knew what she wanted to say, but just couldn’t speak the words.

“It was so frustrating,” she said.

Thompson spent two and a half months in the hospital and her husband, Ken, was afraid she might never speak again.

“Before the stroke, Terri talked to people all over the world working in marketing and sales for a software company,” he said. “Her ability to talk to people was her forte.”

Thompson spent a year in physical therapy, eventually regaining the use of her right leg and the ability to drive. She’s still making slow progress on the use of her right arm.
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