Abstract:

This dissertation explores the effects of damage to the cerebellum on two elements of language: verbal working memory and grammatical morphology. Chapter 1 presents a review of the work on the cerebellum and cognition, with a focus on speech, lexical retrieval, reading, temporal processing, implicit learning, and visuospatial attention. Chapter 2 discusses the role of the cerebellum in verbal working memory, with a focus on what this involvement suggests about the cerebellum and phonological processing. Two experiments are presented in which it is shown that cerebellar patients demonstrate a significant reduction of both the word length and phonological similarity effects. Chapter 3 discusses the role of the cerebellum in grammatical morphology, which can be considered a type of syntax. Three experiments are presented in which it is shown that damage to the cerebellum can result in a reduced use of grammatical morphemes in production, comprehension, and explicit grammaticality judgments. Chapter 4 discusses the implications of the results of the five experiments for the modularity and evolutionary history of language.