Introduction to Neurolinguistics

“Professor Ahlsén has provided a broad, thoughtful, and up-to-date introduction to the rapidly developing field of neurolinguistics. Her many years of experience as a clinician, clinical researcher, and teacher, and her leadership in international cross-linguistic aphasia studies have given her an authoritative perspective on this field. She presents both sides of current controversies clearly and fairly. Her presentation of neurogenic language disorders – principally aphasia, but also aspects of language in such disorders as traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease and cerebral palsy – reviews the traditional areas of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and written communication, as well as bilingual aphasia. Importantly, Ahlsén also gives equivalent weight to language in its communicative context and the ways in which other communicative modalities, such as gesture and facial expression, are essential in augmenting human communicative capacity. These sections are two of many which are richly informed by her own research on communication patterns in aphasia.

Ahlsén begins with the traditional clinical history of aphasia, but she also situates neurolinguistics fully in its modern context of brain evolution, psycholinguistics, neural modeling, and brain imaging. She gives serious consideration to current therapeutic approaches, including the design of augmentative and alternative communication devices and communicatively-oriented therapy, where again the sensitivity of the discussion bears witness to her own extensive clinical experience.”

“Of particular value are the frequent links to therapy, on the practical side, and different models of brain-language relationships, on the theoretical side. The many points of contact between neurolinguistics and other disciplines will be of value to the professional. Elisabeth Ahlsén’s book is recommended as a first-text approach to the science and practice of neurolinguistics.”

“There is definitely a need for an up-to-date Introduction to Neurolinguistics. This text book is very pedagogical. It is well organized into chapters, and each chapter is itself well organized, with clearly defined concepts, a survey of the most relevant literature, an integration of each subtopic into the whole, followed by references, suggested reading, and assignments.”

“Neurolinguistics, introduced in the mid 20th century by Henry Hecaen and Alexandr Luria, has finally come of age with this, the first introductory text in the field. The core of this text is Part II which introduces the brain components and aphasic language impairments of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and, importantly, pragmatics. Of particular value are the frequent links to therapy, on the practical side, and different models of brain-language relationships, on the theoretical side. The discussion of alternative, competing theories is particularly helpful, as are the useful exercises offered to the beginning student. The many points of contact between neurolinguistics and other disciplines will be of value to the professional. Elisabeth Ahlsén’s book is recommended as a first-text approach to the science and practice of neurolinguistics.”