The effect of instrumentality and verb-noun name relation on verb retrieval in bilingual Greek-English anomic aphasic individuals

The effect of instrumentality and verb-noun name relation has been studied in a group of late bilingual, Greek-English speaking individuals with anomic aphasia, who had previously shown a greater verb than noun impairment in a picture naming task. The results revealed a facilitatory effect of instrumentality in both languages. However, there was no effect of verb-noun name relation in Greek, and a negative effect of verb-noun name relation was observed in English. The findings showed that lemma retrieval was intact in this group of bilingual individuals whose main problem seemed to arise during the retrieval of the phonological representation of the target word

Noun and verb comprehension and production in bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia

This paper investigates noun and verb comprehension and production in two groups of late bilingual Greek (L1)/English (L2) speakers: individuals with anomic aphasia, and a control group of non-brain injured individuals matched for age and gender. There were no significant differences in verb or noun comprehension between the two groups in either language. However, verb and noun production in a picture naming task was significantly worse in the bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia in both languages than in the control group. Anomic aphasic individuals also showed genuine verb impairments in both Greek and English. Moreover, even though residual second language proficiency was overall poorer than first language proficiency, this did not have a significant impact on the findings. Overall, the findings support the uni-directional hypothesis that verbs are more difficult to retrieve than nouns because their linguistic structure is inherently more complex than that of nouns. The potential underlying level of breakdown of the specific verb impairment is discussed in relation to the serial model of word processing

On the Acquisition of Prepositions*

This work studies the acquisition of Greek Prepositional Phrases. We focus on locative prepositions, because they may combine a lexical and a functional element, hence, can offer insights for both the acquisition and the syntactic status of prepositions from this perspective. We found that both, se and apo, appear after the lexical part of complex prepositions, and fully develop after age three. We compare se and apo when part of complex prepositions and when conveying location/direction alone and conclude that the former may be acquired after the latter. Apo is also encountered much earlier alone, but only preceding locative adverbials

Linguistic and Nonverbal Abilities over Time in a Child Case of 22q11 Deletion Syndrome

The aim of this study is to profile the cognitive–linguistic performance of a male child (P.I.) with 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). Specifically, receptive and expressive language performance and nonverbal IQ (NVIQ) are described at two different time points—when P.I. was 6 and 10 years of age, respectively. Using case-based methodology, P.I.’s NVIQ and performance on global and structured language tasks are compared to typically developing children of the same chronological age and school-aged children with specific language impairment (SLI). The results show no improvement in NVIQ or vocabulary, but his morphosyntactic abilities did improve over time. The findings are discussed in relation to two hypotheses, either that the profile of language impairment in children with 22q11DS is distinctive to the syndrome or that there is co-morbidity with SLI. This is particularly important for speech–language therapists who have a primary role in diagnosing communication deficits and providing treatment

Personal narratives after stoke: stories from bilingual Greek-English immigrants living in South Australia

© 2019 the author.Narratives are intricately intertwined with quality of life, culture, and social participation. This paper reports stories told by bilingual people describing the events or consequences of a stroke on their lives. Six immigrant participants (mean age 70 years) who were less than four years post-stroke spontaneously produced a narrative recounting their personal experience of having a stroke in their native language (Greek) and in their second language (English). Stories from the two languages were taken at least ten days apart. All participants had learned English in early adulthood upon migration from Greece to Australia, and not through formal teaching but informally, in the community. This group of immigrants had lived in Australia on average for 46 years. Narratives in the two languages underwent quantitative (length, number of propositions) and qualitative analyses (ratings of coherence, ratings of clarity). Most individuals produced coherent “tellable” stories despite disruptions in language because of stroke-related language deficits or aphasia. Overall, stories were better told (length, complexity of content, temporal-causal sequencing, reference) in Greek — their native language. The results have implications for policy-makers providing health and welfare services to ageing immigrant populations. The findings are also relevant to other countries that have large immigrant populations of stroke survivors

The Importance of Aphasia Communication Groups

Chronic aphasia is linked to poor functional recovery, depression, and social isolation. In the exploration of the above factors, the role of aphasia communication groups has evolved. Aphasia communication groups for stroke survivors with chronic aphasia and their communication buddies are gaining clinical importance. Communication buddies can be family members, friends, carers, health professionals, and speech and language therapy students who serve as communication facilitators for each group member. Group members share experiences on stroke and aphasia by using technology/tablets and the total communication approach. The benefits or outcomes of group involvement are measured by assessment of functional communication, individual self-ratings of the impact of aphasia on communication, and quality of life after stroke. The use of the communication buddy system, total communication approach, and systematic evaluations enables therapists to measure the effectiveness and efficacy of communication groups in terms of functional communication, social inclusion, and quality of life

Linguistic and Nonverbal Abilities over Time in a Child Case of 22q11 Deletion Syndrome

The aim of this study is to profile the cognitive–linguistic performance of a male child (P.I.) with 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). Specifically, receptive and expressive language performance and nonverbal IQ (NVIQ) are described at two different time points—when P.I. was 6 and 10 years of age, respectively. Using case-based methodology, P.I.’s NVIQ and performance on global and structured language tasks are compared to typically developing children of the same chronological age and school-aged children with specific language impairment (SLI). The results show no improvement in NVIQ or vocabulary, but his morphosyntactic abilities did improve over time. The findings are discussed in relation to two hypotheses, either that the profile of language impairment in children with 22q11DS is distinctive to the syndrome or that there is co-morbidity with SLI. This is particularly important for speech–language therapists who have a primary role in diagnosing communication deficits and providing treatment

Linguistic and Nonverbal Abilities over Time in a Child Case of 22q11 Deletion Syndrome

The aim of this study is to profile the cognitive–linguistic performance of a male child (P.I.) with 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). Specifically, receptive and expressive language performance and nonverbal IQ (NVIQ) are described at two different time points—when P.I. was 6 and 10 years of age, respectively. Using case-based methodology, P.I.’s NVIQ and performance on global and structured language tasks are compared to typically developing children of the same chronological age and school-aged children with specific language impairment (SLI). The results show no improvement in NVIQ or vocabulary, but his morphosyntactic abilities did improve over time. The findings are discussed in relation to two hypotheses, either that the profile of language impairment in children with 22q11DS is distinctive to the syndrome or that there is co-morbidity with SLI. This is particularly important for speech–language therapists who have a primary role in diagnosing communication deficits and providing treatment

Bilingualism in a Case of the Non-fluent/agrammatic Variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia

There is a growing body of research on language impairment in bilingual speakers with neurodegenerative diseases. Evidence as to which language is better preserved is rather inconclusive. Various factors seem to influence language performance, most notably age of acquisition, level of proficiency, immersion and degree of exposure to each language. The present study examined fluency, lexical, discourse and grammatical abilities of a Greek-French late bilingual man with the non-fluent/agrammatic variant of primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA). Speech samples derived from three different narrative tasks in both languages were analyzed using quantitative production analysis (QPA) and fluency measures. The first aim of the study was to compare the participant's connected speech production to that of Greek-speaking normal controls. The second aim was to determine whether Greek (L1) and French (L2) were differentially impaired. To our knowledge, this is the first report of connected speech deficits in a Greek-speaking patient with PPA and the first study which uses QPA to compare L1 and L2 narratives in a bilingual speaker with PPA. Compared to neurologically healthy controls, our participant was impaired in lexical, discourse and grammatical productivity measures, but did not differ in measures of grammatical accuracy. The presence of dysfluencies, reduced speech rate and simplified syntax is consistent with the pattern of impairment reported for the nfvPPA. Results showed that narrative production measures did not differ significantly between languages. However, they suggest a slightly worse performance in his second, non-dominant, language despite a similar pattern of impairment in both languages. Lengthy exposure to L2 and regular activation of L2 through daily use may explain the preservation of discourse abilities in his non-dominant language. This study calls attention to factors such as language dominance, proficiency, patterns of use, and exposure to a language. These factors play a key role in assessing bilingual individuals with PPA and making clinical decisions