The effects of enactment on communicative competence in aphasic casual conversation: a functional linguistic perspective

Background: Previous research has shown that speakers with aphasia rely on enactment more often than non-brain-damaged language users. Several studies have been conducted to explain this observed increase, demonstrating that spoken language containing enactment is easier to produce and is more engaging to the conversation partner. This paper describes the effects of the occurrence of enactment in casual conversation involving individuals with aphasia on its level of conversational assertiveness. Aims: To evaluate whether and to what extent the occurrence of enactment in speech of individuals with aphasia contributes to its conversational assertiveness. Methods & Procedures: Conversations between a speaker with aphasia and his wife (drawn from AphasiaBank) were analysed in several steps. First, the transcripts were divided into moves, and all moves were coded according to the systemic functional linguistics (SFL) framework. Next, all moves were labelled in terms of their level of conversational assertiveness, as defined in the previous literature. Finally, all enactments were identified and their level of conversational assertiveness was compared with that of non-enactments. Outcomes & Results: Throughout their conversations, the non-brain-damaged speaker was more assertive than the speaker with aphasia. However, the speaker with aphasia produced more enactments than the non-brain-damaged speaker. The moves of the speaker with aphasia containing enactment were more assertive than those without enactment. Conclusions & Implications: The use of enactment in the conversations under study positively affected the level of conversational assertiveness of the speaker with aphasia, a competence that is important for speakers with aphasia because it contributes to their floor time, chances to be heard seriously and degree of control over the conversation topic

Direct and indirect speech in aphasia:studies of spoken discourse production and comprehension

Speakers with aphasia (a language impairment due to acquired brain damage) have difficulty processing grammatically complex sentences. In this dissertation we study the processing of direct speech constructions (e.g., John said: “I have to leave”) by people with and without aphasia. First, we study how often and in which ways speakers with aphasia produce direct speech constructions. Comparing the results to those of a control group, we find that people with aphasia produce more direct speech constructions than “healthy” speakers. Furthermore, depending on their aphasia type, individuals with aphasia use different forms of direct speech constructions. The larger proportion and adapted use of direct speech by individuals with aphasia is suggested to be an adaptation strategy to get around specific linguistic impairments. Now that we know that speakers with aphasia produce relatively many direct speech constructions, the question arises what their effects are one the listener. It has often been claimed that direct speech contributes to liveliness, and that liveliness contributes to comprehensibility. Is this also true for speech produced by people with aphasia? Our study shows that direct speech indeed contributes to perceived liveliness. However, no effect on comprehensibility is found. Finally, we investigate whether direct and indirect speech constructions (e.g., John said that he had to leave) affect discourse comprehension differently in Dutch and English-speaking people with and without aphasia. This is indeed the case in Dutch: narratives containing direct speech are easier to comprehend than narratives with indirect speech for listeners with and without aphasia. However, in English this effect only exists for “healthy” listeners

The effects of enactment on communicative competence in aphasic casual conversation:a functional linguistic perspective

Background: Previous research has shown that speakers with aphasia rely on enactment more often than non-brain-damaged language users. Several studies have been conducted to explain this observed increase, demonstrating that spoken language containing enactment is easier to produce and is more engaging to the conversation partner.This paper describes the effects of the occurrence of enactment in casual conversation involving individuals with aphasia on its level of conversational assertiveness.Aims:To evaluate whether and to what extent the occurrence of enactment in speech of individuals with aphasia contributes to its conversational assertiveness.Methods & Procedures:Conversations between a speaker with aphasia and his wife (drawn from AphasiaBank)were analysed in several steps. First, the transcripts were divided intomoves, and all moves were coded accordingto the systemic functional linguistics (SFL) framework. Next, all moves were labelled in terms of their level ofconversational assertiveness, as defined in the previous literature. Finally, all enactments were identified and their level of conversational assertiveness was compared with that of non-enactments.Outcomes & Results:Throughout their conversations, the non-brain-damaged speaker was more assertive than the speaker with aphasia. However, the speaker with aphasia produced more enactments than the non-brain-damaged speaker. The moves of the speaker with aphasia containing enactment were more assertive than those without enactment.Conclusions & Implications:The use of enactment in the conversations under study positively affected the level of conversational assertiveness of the speaker with aphasia, a competence that is important for speakers with aphasia because it contributes to their floor time, chances to be heard seriously and degree of control over the conversation topic