APHASIA IN BILINGUALS: A SHORT STUDY ON HOW THE ILL-FATED ILLNESS AFFECTS
THE TWO-LANGUAGE PEOPLE
By: Amiel Kit T. Toloy
ABOUT APHASIA
Regardless of the perspective one espouses, most researchers agree on
common elements in any definition of aphasia: Aphasia (a) is a mostly-language
level problem, (b) includes receptive and expressive components, (c) is
multimodal in nature, and (d) is caused by a central nervous system dysfunction.
On this note, the said condition can, generally, mean an acquired selective
impairment of language modalities resulting from a focal brain lesion in the
language-dominant hemisphere that affects the person’s social functioning,
quality of life, and the quality of life of his or her relatives and caregivers. 1
APHASIA AND BILINGUALISM
The basic questions in the neuropsychology2 of bilingualism are whether the
two languages of the same subject have different cerebral3 representations and
whether the fact of having acquired two languages influences the cerebral
organization of higher cortical4 functions. Thus, the main query: are both
languages affected equally?
1
Cf. Ilias Papathanasiou and Patrick Coppens, Aphasia and Related Neurogenic Communication Disorders
(Burlington: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2017), p. 4.
2
Neuropsychology is the subspecialty of psychology that studies brain–behavior relationships.
3
The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. It is responsible for memory, speech, the senses, and emotional
response.
4
Cortical means of, relating to, or consisting of cortex, which is the outer part of cerebellum; it could just, basically,
mean, mental processes.
First, there is the long standing neurological claim that all languages of a
polyglot are subserved5 by the same cortical locus6 or loci.
A more recent
theoretical linguistic position assumes that all languages share the same linguistic
principles and that, therefore, the underlying cerebral representation must be the
same for all the languages of a speaker-hearer. It predicts that if some aspect of
competence is impaired by neurological trauma, then all languages known by
the speaker must be disordered in just the same way, consistent with the impaired
competence.
Moreover, because it is assumed that competence is common to both
languages, if a bilingual is agrammatic7 for some aspect of the grammar in one
of his languages, it is predicted that she or he will be agrammatic for those same
components of the grammar in the other language.8
Nevertheless, some researchers claim that sometimes there is apparent loss
of one language and not the other. For example, Wechsler (1977) mentions a
case of polyglot aphasia in which the patient showed severe alexia (the
incapacity to read) in his mother tongue (English), but only a mild form of alexia
in French, a language ha head learned in school during adolescence. Several
cases of selective recovery mention the recovery of classical languages (learned
essentially through the written mode) prior to aurally acquired languages. From a
5
It means to promote the welfare or purposes of.
It is the place where something is situated or occurs : site, location (loci, plural)
7
Relating to, or not conforming to the rules of grammar
8
Cf. Michel Paradis and Gary Libben, The Assessment of Bilingual Aphasia (New York: Psychology Press, 2014)
6
neuropsychological point of view, it is sound to postulate that two languages may
be affected differentially by brain damage, particularly when they involve visual
and auditive modalities to different degrees. Wechsler (1977) postulated that later
language acquisition would rely more heavily on both hemispheres and less
heavily on the left hemisphere; therefore, it would be easier to recover the laterlearned language. A second language learned later in life might rely more
heavily on a greater metalinguistic knowledge and on more controlled cerebral
functions located in the right hemisphere.9
Thus, considering all of these factors, we can come to agree that in some
cases, all known languages are impaired relatively equally; whereas in other
cases deficits are differential, that is, one language is more impaired than the
other.
LANGUAGE RECOVERY
Indeed, the first focus of interest concerned the question of which
language returned first, and whether it was the first or most-used language. Such
reports provided the literature with interesting individual case studies and series of
case studies well into the 20th century.10
9
Cf. Josiane F. Hamers and Michel H.A. Blanc, Bilinguality and Bilingualism (New York: Cambridge University Press,
2000), p. 144
10
Cf. Martin R. Gitterman, Mira Goral, and Loraine K. Obler, Aspects of Multilingual Aphasia (New York:
Multilingual Matters, 2012), p. 3
Based on clinical cases, early accounts to explain the stronger post-stroke
language include: the language that had been used most around the time of
the accident (Pitre’s principle); the language first acquired because it involves
the oldest memories, most resistant to impairment (RIbot’s principle); the
language associated with the strongest affective experiences (Minkowski’s
account); and the language most useful to the patient at the time of the cerebral
insult (Goldstein’s account).11
For Wechsler (1977), as mentioned earlier, it would be easier to recover the
later-learned language as language acquisition would rely more heavily on both
hemispheres and less heavily on the left hemisphere.12
Whichever from the enumerated theories is far more plausible, the thing is
parallel recovery13 do happen in most cases (albeit, not at all times). In addition,
regression in the first recovered language can be concurrent with recovery in the
second.14
Several case studies report that polyglot aphasics retain the ability to
translate both in simultaneous and selective recovery and, conversely, the ability
to translate or code-switch may be lost even in cases of mild impairment in each
11
Cf. Ilias Papathanasiou and Patrick Coppens, Aphasia and Related Neurogenic Communication Disorders
(Burlington: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2017), p. 281
12
The left hemisphere of the brain is in-charge of the cognitive functions such as speech and language. Thus, with
less dependence to the said hemisphere, and equal dependence to both hemispheres, this might make the
second-learned language to recover first.
13
Happens when two or more languages recover simultaneously in contrast to “differential”, when one language is
recovered better than th other.
14
Cf. Josiane F. Hamers and Michel H.A. Blanc, Bilinguality and Bilingualism (New York: Cambridge University Press,
2000), p. 147
language; some patients show a unidirectional impairment in translation into their
mother tongue (L1), while retaining the ability to translate into their L2.15
Furthermore, a polyglot aphasic might be able to code-switch but totally unable
to translate. Hence, the most prized answer – both languages are able to be
recovered most of the time.
15
Cf. Cf. Josiane F. Hamers and Michel H.A. Blanc, Bilinguality and Bilingualism (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2000), p. 146
References:
Main:




Papathanasiou, Ilias and Coppens, Patrick. Aphasia and Related Neurogenic Communication
Disorders. Burlington, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2017.
Paradis, Michel and Libben, Gary. The Assessment of Bilingual Aphasia. New York, New York:
Psychology Press, 2014.
Hamers, Josiane and Blanc, Michel, Bilinguality and Bilingualism. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2000.
Gitterman, Martin et al. Aspects of Multilingual Aphasia. New York: Multilingual Matters, 2012.
Web:

Stebbins, Glenn. Neuropsychological Testing. 19 June 2021
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/neuropsychology

Priyanka A. Abhang, et al. Introduction to Emotion, Electroencephalography, and Speech
Processing. 19 June 2021 https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/cerebrum
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19 June 2021 https://brainmadesimple.com/left-and-right-hemispheres/
19 June 2021 https://www.merriam-webster.com/