Alzheimer's disease and language

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2008 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik, Note: 1,3, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald (Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik), Veranstaltung: HS 'Language, Mind and Brain', Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Iris has got more than one world going on inside her head - a secret world. [...] I'm the only friend that knows of her secret world. [...] It's like in a fairy story: I'm the young man in love with a beautiful maiden. Who disappears into an unknown and mysterious world every now and again, who always comes back. (John about Iris in the Film 'Iris' 2001) This paper is focusing on the impacts of Alzheimer's disease on language production, since we won't be able to explain this complex desease in medical detail. For introductory reasons a short insight into language and the brain in general will be given. From a neurolinguistic point of view we will then eleborate on the various brain areas affected by Alzheimer's and on the various speech deficiencies that can occur within an Alzheimer's patient. As an example of how big the impact of Alzheimer's disease on language is, the main character in the film 'Iris', a dementic woman, will be examined with a focus on language problems.