What mechanisms does our brain use to speak creatively and build language? This book examines the skills used in the acquisition and reproduction of speech, as well as the different types of brain damage that affect linguistic practice: language disorders in childhood, damage to the right hemisphere, dementia, aphasia, agraphia and reading and writing difficulties experienced by dyslexics. It also provides information on 'split-brain' patients, on visual and gestural languages and on 'learned languages'. Through the study of linguistic behavior, the authors show how language is organized in our brain.