Compensatory processes in the evolution of severe jargon aphasia

The Influence of Phonological Context on the Sound Errors of a Speaker with Wernicke's Aphasia

“…While there is evidence that the phoneme frequency distribution in aphasic conversational speech corresponds to the distribution curve for spoken English (Blumstein, 1973), the overuse by some patients of particular words and phonemes can produce a distorted function (Butterworth, 1979;Panzeri et al, 1987). The use of narratives, rather than conversational speech, undoubtedly also affects the phoneme frequency distribution, by targeting specific content which may be repeated several times in the course of a given narrative.…”

“…The advantage of movie narratives over conversational speech samples is that the story line and participants are known at the outset, which simplifies to some degree the task of identifying targets. Also, patients are under some pressure to produce specific content and thus are less likely to resort to empty speech or other strategies for circumventing retrieval blocks (e.g., Panzeri, Semenza, & Butterworth, 1987) In other respects, our analysis was modeled on Schwartz et al (1994). Like their F.L., our subject is a Wernicke's aphasic patient, whose speech was aberrant at the phonological, lexical, and syntactic levels.…”

Mechanisms of change in the evolution of jargon aphasia

“…This type of strategic adaptation has been argued for in other cases in the literature (e.g. Panzeri et al 1987;Kohn and Smith, 1994).…”

“…Where data are reported, they are often restricted to correct scores on language tests, with no error analysis (Ansaldo, Arguin & Lecours, 2004;Caporali & Basso, 2003;McDermott et al, 1996). Few detailed longitudinal studies have been conducted (although see Kohn & Smith, 1994;Kohn, Smith & Alexander, 1996;Panzeri, Semenza & Butterworth, 1987).…”

“…The combination of production and awareness gains is perhaps most clearly demonstrated by PZ (Panzeri et al 1987). PZ was examined at 3, 7, 10 and 36 months post onset.…”