Jacqueline Stark

The processing of interfixed German compounds

This postulate by Goethe (*1749), the first protagonist of a new discipline of morphology (albeit first only within biology), confronts us with the main problem of processing studies of morphology: Are morphological constructions processed as wholes or with regard to their parts or, if both, under which conditions? This question has been of central concern in the psycholinguistic literature on lexical processing over the past quarter century. The debate in this area was initiated by the provocative claim put forward by Taft and Forster (1975; 1976) that multimorphemic words are represented in the mental lexicon in terms of their constituents and that multimorphemic word recognition routinely involves a morphological decomposition procedure. Subsequent experimentation, however, has pointed to the view that neither this strong position nor the strong contrary position advocated by Butterworth (1983) accounts for the performance of language users across languages, task types, and stimulus categories (see McQueen and Cutler (1998) for a recent review). Even within individual categories of morphological construction, experimental results have led to a rather complex view of the role of morphology in lexical processing. Compound word processing, for example, has been shown to provide evidence for both whole word representation and constituent activation. In general, semantically transparent compounds show constituent activation, whereas semantically opaque compounds show greater evidence of whole word activation (Libben 1998; Sandra 1990; Zwitserlood 1994). Recent work by Libben, Derwing and de Almeida (1999) has also suggested that the processing of compounds may involve the creation of multiple representations that are simultaneously computed and evaluated. Libben et al. (1999) claim that the processing of compounds is not guided by a principle of parsing efficiency but rather by a mechanism that uncovers the maximum number of morphemes within a multimorphemic string.

Triangulating the Effects of Interfixation in the Processing of German Compounds

The German language shows a high degree of compounding. The process is very productive in the language and compounds may be formed from the combination of four or more roots. In addition, German compounding also shows the presence of interfixes between constituents in about 35% of all compounds. We report on a compound composition experiment that investigates the role of these interfixes in on-line compound processing. The study reveals that interfixation carries with it a processing cost in German and that this processing cost is elevated in cases in which the interfix attaches to a truncated form of the initial compound constituent. Moreover, we find that response times are increased when initial compound constituents show inconsistent interfixation patterns across the language. These results support the view that German compounds are represented in terms of their constituents and that interfixation choices are made on-line.

A review of classical accounts of verbal perseveration and their modern‐day relevance

Background: Although the topic of perseveration—in particular, verbal perseveration—is crucial for understanding various aspects of language and other cognitive functions, it has only recently begun to receive the attention it deserves. However, reports on the history of perseveration remain highly selective in their scope. This is due in part to a language barrier. Numerous relevant publications from the “classical” aphasiological period were published in German, leaving them inaccessible for interested colleagues. Particular thanks go to Emanuel Wenger of the Department of Visualisation of the Austrian Academy of Sciences for his realisation of the various theories on perseveration in diagram form. I would also like to thank Christiane Pons, Maura Bayer, Caroline Brew, Karin Geisler, Lotti Viola, and the reviewers of this paper for their constructive comments. Aims: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the historical development of publications on the phenomenon of perseveration, and thus to draw attention and give credit to the classical clinicians and researchers who participated in vigorous debates on the topic. Main Contribution: A survey is given of the main points discussed in publications on perseveration dating back to 1866. Particular attention is paid to the German classical literature. An attempt is made to graphically portray the hypothetical mechanisms that constitute the three classical accounts of perseveration. Conclusions: Concepts put forward in the classical studies on the origin of perseveration are in many ways comparable to modern accounts of the phenomena. The predictions of the three classical accounts—(1) deficit account, (2) overactivation account, and (3) underactivation or weak activation account—as well as other “old” ideas on perseveration expressed in the classical publications are relevant for a comprehensive understanding of recent accounts of perseveratory phenomena. Therefore, they should be considered when interpreting perseveratory and/or paraphasic errors produced by aphasic clients.

Content analysis of the fairy tale Cinderella – A longitudinal single-case study of narrative production: “From rags to riches”

Background: With regard to spontaneously produced speech and the oral production of a narrative, the content of the message(s) being conveyed by a person with Brocas aphasia with severe agrammatic sentence production must often be inferred from the telegraphic speech output. The clinicians inferences must often be revised to capture the intended meaning of a single utterance or sequence of utterances. When performing a formal analysis of such telegraphic utterances, researchers strive to provide an adequate reconstruction that approximates the speakers intended meanings. Aims: In this single-case study, multiple oral (re)tellings of the fairy tale Cinderella are analysed in terms of the content of the produced narratives. The aim of this study is to trace and determine how the content of a person with aphasias production of this fairy tale changes over time, and to tease apart the contribution of various linguistic domains in the production of a narrative. Methods & Procedures: Participant TH suffered a massive left hemisphere CVA at the age of 40 and was initially diagnosed as globally aphasic. By 36 months post onset his language impairment had evolved into Brocas aphasia characterised by agrammatic sentence production (oral and written language), mild apraxia of speech, and asyntactic auditory comprehension. He performed the task of orally (re)telling the fairy tale Cinderella eleven times over a 4½-year period, beginning 36 months post onset and extending to 93 months post onset of aphasia. His narratives were video- and audio-taped and the recordings were transcribed. The fairy tale Cinderella was interpreted in terms of its propositional content and its superstructure: orientation, development (episode 1, 2a, 2b, 3), complication ( =  4), solution (episode 5), coda, and evaluation of the narrative (Labov, 2000; Labov & Waletzky, 1967). The content of THs narratives was evaluated independently by three clinicians. Outcomes & Results: A marked increase in the number of explicitly produced content units was observed across test times. Longitudinally, TH produced more informative narratives as evaluated in terms of propositional content units, elaborations, and evaluations. These changes in performance are attributed to THs improved lexical retrieval for both nouns and verbs, and also to his improved syntactic skills. Conclusions: Qualitative and quantitative changes in producing the Cinderella narrative mirror THs improved language processing, in particular his verb retrieval and oral sentence production skills. Longitudinally, analysis of the content of narratives provides insight into the evolution of text production with reference to the influence of several linguistic domains on narrative production. In summary, content analysis of orally produced narratives provides a departure point for examining the complex roles of various linguistic domains in the process of transforming ideas into articulated sentences and narratives.

Aspects of Automatic versus Controlled Processing, Monitoring, Metalinguistic Tasks, and Related Phenomena in Aphasia

People can be aware of their language at many different levels. from the automatic. vitually unconscious monitoring of their own speech to the rapid switching of languages by professional translators to the detailed analytic work of linguists. (Clark. 1978. p. 17)

Analysing the language therapy process: The implicit role of learning and memory

Background : Analysis of language recovery has focused primarily on the linguistic aspects of language therapy provided to people with aphasia. The preservation and influence of cognitive skills has been taken for granted, although factors such as memory, attention, and learning are fundamental to an understanding of the language rehabilitation process. Aims : The goals of this paper are to elucidate the ELA-syntax treatment protocol, which aims at ameliorating oral sentence production, and to demonstrate how significant gains in performance might be attributed to aspects of its structure and content, in particular, its use of verbal recall in the therapy procedure. Methods & Procedures : A qualitative analysis of the structure of a single ELA therapy session and data from a single-case study, TH, will be presented in support of the issues being addressed. Transcriptions of single therapy sessions from the beginning, middle, and end of the three protocols are analysed with particular emphasis on sentence recall. Outcomes & Results : From early on in language therapy, TH demonstrated a relatively good ability to recall, i.e., convey the content of the sentences worked on in therapy sessions. This performance contrasted with his poor initial spontaneous production of each sentence. THs severe verb retrieval difficulties improved and the length of the sentences produced in therapy increased from an average of 5.25 to 10.0 words. A carryover to discourse and pragmatic-level tasks and to written sentence production is also observed. Conclusions : The use of “delay” and a form of personalised cueing appear to play a crucial role in facilitating the retrieval of information from memory for oral sentence production. Incorporating the task of recalling the content of a therapy session at the beginning of the next session and at the end of each session provides an immediate and repeated measure of a participants learning abilities and his/her response to the ongoing therapy programme. It is postulated that this distinct feature of the treatment programme facilitates the use of language in everyday life.

Long-term analysis of chronic Broca's aphasia: an illustrative single case.

In this article, a longitudinal case study of a client (whose initials are TH) with chronic Brocas aphasia is presented. The language data encompass test and therapy data over a 7-year period, during which THs language performance and verbal communicative behavior have improved and continue to improve. A carryover from oral to written sentence production and to verbal communication in everyday life has been observed. The long-term provision of therapy has not only lead to improved verbal communication skills, but has also enhanced his quality of life. The case study discussed in this article demonstrates the value of long-term treatment and research on the evolution of language deficits across time. This approach provides a window for examining the dynamic processes of language recovery--the quantitative and qualitative changes that can be achieved when language therapy is provided long term in the chronic phase. Long-term analysis of the manner in which language functions respond to therapeutic intervention also provides detailed basic information required for a realistic characterization of the spectrum of language deficits for each symptom complex and/or aphasia type, not only for a single test time. This will lead to a better understanding of the recovery process and to development of therapy protocols in better accordance with the deficits at a particular point in the recovery process.

Syllable Structure in Wernicke’s Aphasia

Analysis of speech production of Wernicke’s aphasics confronts one, at first glance, with nearly unsolvable problems on all linguistic levels of analysis. Linguistic theory is thus greatly challenged when accounting for the symptomatology of Wernicke’s aphasics. We believe that linguistic theory can help explain one of the most interesting and puzzling phenomena in aphasic symptomatology, i.e., neologistic jargon. In the present study we analyzed the performance of two aphasics who produce phonemic jargon on a repetition and a naming task. The aim of this investigation was to elucidate the interactions between prosodic and morphosyntactic structures of neologisms and paraphasias within the framework of metrical phonology. In particular, we addressed the following questions: (1) Is there a hierarchy of impairment for the various constituents of syllable structure? (2) In what ways do the various levels/components interact on the prosodic and morphosyntactic hierarchy?

Improvement of Coarticulation in Broca’s Aphasia

In the clinical setting, it often is necessary for therapeutic reasons to objectivize a patient’s recovery process in a specific domain over time. This applies particularly to the articulatory abilities of the Broca’s aphasic. In such a patient one perceives quantititative and qualitative differences in performance. However, it is difficult to describe the changes in performance in an objective manner. The purpose of the study reported here is to show in a single case study of Broca’s aphasia how reliable information about improvement in language functions can be obtained without administering special tests. In this study, we analyzed and measured changes in coarticulatory speech behavior by applying direct and indirect measures and parameters not often used or described in the literature. Validity of the hypotheses and results were tested by means of statistical computations.

Integrating face-to-face language therapy with virtual reality applications for persons with aphasia

Under optimal conditions, providing language therapy to persons with aphasia (PWA) is an intensive and dynamic process which results in improved verbal communication and greater participation in everyday life. However, due to cuts in health care spending, PWAs are not receiving the necessary amount of language therapy to achieve significant gains in language abilities. Recent developments of computerized language programs and virtual reality applications are promising as they enable a PWA to attain an adequate dosage of language therapy. In this paper, challenges of integrating face-to-face therapy with computerized and virtual applications will be exemplified by the ELA® Virtual House.