A Comparative Study for the Production of Content Words and Function Words in Broca Aphasics

Bae, Jin Ae

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2005;10(2): 12-31.

Jin Ae Bae^`

배진애(Jin Ae Bae)

ABSTRACT

This study examines the agrammatic production of content words and function words in Koreans. For the purpose of this study, ten Broca aphasics having prototypical agrammatic speech production and ten normal adults were selected. The methods and materials used in this study come from Menn & Obler(1990), who provided a consistent format to describe agrammatic production. The data was collected from spontaneous speech and structured speech: telling the history of an illness, telling of a popular folktale, completion of a picture action and using the modified Wechsler-Bellevue stories. A comparison of the controls with the patients revealed interesting differences. The number of total word produced by aphasics was lower than the controls; reduced variety and simplification of syntax were also observed. The proportion of the content word was much higher for the aphasics than the controls on their spontaneous speech. Nouns were the most commonly produced words by the aphasics and the controls. Although both groups produced more nouns than verbs, the aphasics made more errors with verbs than nouns in the free interviews and the narrative elicited tasks. Adjectives were produced less often in the open class words. The agrammatic production was more often distorted by semantic paraphasia than by phonemic paraphasia. The function words were substituted more by both the agrammatic patients and the controls, even though the closed class elements were omitted. For the function words, the controls had higher rates of substitution than did the agrammatic patients. Overall, the results from the word production in Korean agrammatic patients showed similar patterns as was reported by Menn & Obler(1990). However, some symptoms(e. g. more semantic paraphasia and more substitutions) seem to have a different pattern in Koreans.

Keywords: 브로카 실어증 | 실문법증 | 내용어 | 기능어 | 음소착어증 | 의미착어증 | 생략