Responds to an article that argues that in the study of bilingualism, conceptual representations should be treated as related but not equivalent to word meanings, as knowledge-based, dynamic and language- and culture-specific. (Author/VWL)

Discussion abounds in the literature as to whether aphasia is a deficit of linguistic competence or linguistic performance and, if it is a performance deficit, what are its precise mechanisms. Considerable evidence suggests that alteration of nonlinguistic factors can affect language performance in aphasia, a finding that raises questions about…

This article discusses identity as it relates to aphasia and the resulting impact on life participation. The relationships among social identity, language, and social interaction are considered from the sociocultural perspective. Core social identity concepts are identified and used to examine the broad classifications of aphasia intervention.…

Three French-speaking agrammatic aphasics and three French-speaking Conduction aphasics were tested for comprehension of Active, Passive, Cleft-Subject, Cleft-Object, and Cleft-Object sentences with Stylistic Inversion using an object manipulation test. The agrammatic patients consistently reversed thematic roles in the latter sentence type, and…

The effect of two linguistic factors in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia was examined using Dutch and English subjects. Three tasks were used to test (1) the comprehension and (2) the construction of sentences, where verbs (in Dutch) and verb arguments (in Dutch and English) are in canonical versus non-canonical position; (3) the production of…

The purpose of this research was to examine the validity of the 55-item Revised Token Test (RTT) and to compare traditional and Rasch-based scores in their ability to detect group differences and change over time. The 55-item RTT was administered to 108 left- and right-hemisphere stroke survivors, and the data were submitted to Rasch analysis.…

The Wernicke-Lichtheim-Geschwind (WLG) theory of the neurobiological basis of language is of great historical importance, and it continues to exert a substantial influence on most contemporary theories of language in spite of its widely recognized limitations. Here, we suggest that neurobiologically grounded computational models based on the WLG…

Language Enrichment Therapy (LET), a program of language stimulation for aphasia developed in Finland, was tested by five British speech therapists with 13 adult stroke victims and their relatives. Results suggested the usefulness of a refined English version of LET as a cooperative tool for speech therapists and volunteer helpers. (JW)

Token reinforcement and remedial feedback were made contingent upon writing correct sentences containing prenominal adjectives only, then adverbs only, then prenominal adjectives plus adverbs. When the instructional package was implemented, all Ss demonstrated significant increases in response rate, accuracy, and percentage of correct sentences,…

This article provides information on aphasia, including the incidence of aphasia; the effects of the disorder; the role of the speech-language pathologist; and the different types of treatment of aphasia. General studies of the efficacy of aphasia treatment are reviewed and a case study is included. (CR)

Four patients with fluent aphasia received a semantic feature treatment to improve naming of either typical or atypical items within semantic categories. Patients trained on naming of atypical exemplars demonstrated generalization to naming of intermediate and typical items. Patients trained on typical items demonstrated no generalized naming…

The paper traces the histories of several language disorders and the recommended educational treatment for them. It covers the historical events in medicine and education that have contributed to the confusion in relation to aphasia, dyslexia, and perceptual-motor disorders. (JDD)

Investigates the consequences of a contemporary natural experiment forced upon a lawyer who suffered a massive stroke and severe aphasia, losing almost completely the ability to speak meaningful language. With the help of therapists, he learned to speak three words. The author investigates how such coconstruction is accomplished. (41 references)…

Thirty-two subjects (5 Broca's, 7 conduction, and 10 anomic aphasics and 10 normal controls) performed story retell and procedural discourse tasks containing familiar and unfamiliar topics, with familiar and unfamiliar listeners. Results indicated that topic familiarity significantly influenced verbal output in both normal and aphasic subjects.…

A case study of a Russian-Hebrew bilingual woman with transcortical sensory aphasia showed that overall, aphasic symptoms were similar in the two languages, with Hebrew somewhat more impaired. The woman revealed a difference in her ability to perceive phonemes in the context of Hebrew words that depended on whether they were presented in a Russian…