98501065 Sophia Chen
Michael Chiang
Wring and Reading (II)
Bibliography
2010/12/19
Reference: Williamson, G. (2010) Aphasia. The Speech Therapy Information and
Resources Web. Retrieved from
http://www.speech-therapy-information-and-resources.com/aphasia.html
Summary: Aphasia is caused by localized brain damage. It can be roughly
divided into two types which are non-fluent aphasia and fluent aphasia. Non-fluent
aphasia has to do with the impairment of Broca’s area. That’s the reason why it is also
called Broca’s aphasia. Patients with Broca’s aphasia have the problem dealing with
speech production rather than speech comprehension. However, studies in recent
decades have discovered that non-fluent aphasia also affects patients’ speech
comprehension. Yet, compared to obstacle in speech production, comprehension is not
a big deal at all. Generally, Broca’s aphasia can be diagnosed from patients’ syntactic
behavior and articulation. Here is a sample from an individual suffering from
non-fluent aphasia.
•
(1) Yes … ah … Monday … er … Dad and Peter H … [his own name] and
Dad … er … hospital … and ah … Wednesday … Wednesday nine o'clock … and
oh … Thursday … ten o'clock, ah doctors … two … an doctors … and er … teeth …
yah
As the sentence indicates, we can roughly catch up what he tries to convey because all
the information needed is provided (persons, places, date, teeth, etc.) the patient is
capable of selecting what he wants to refer exactly. He can points out precise time and
name, but all he grabs are nouns. His sentence is lack of other word categories and
grammatical conductions. Therefore, the patient’s sentence is merely a bunch of
words; it fails to construct a more advanced structure of pareses and sentences.
After running through speech production, let’s check out the speech
comprehension from the syntactic behavior.
• (2a) The dog chased the cat.
• (2b) The cat chased the dog.
• (2c) The girl watered the flowers.
• (2d) The flowers were watered by the girl.
• (2e) The dog was chased by the cat.
If we ask the patient to tell (2a) from (2b), we can be no doubt in his answer. They can
also identify (2c) with (2d). It seems that people with non-fluent aphasia can use
syntax well. Since (2d) is a passive form, the word order is not consistent with the
logical roles. Because in activity, subject is usually the agent and the object acts as the
theme, in passive the subject reversely becomes the theme. However, considering (2a)
to (2d) deep, we can find that all meaning can be deduced simply from common sense.
Even though the sentence (2d) is passive, nobody would ever think flowers to be doer.
Thus, it must be the girl watering flowers. No need to use syntax at all. (2e) can prove
the symptom of losing syntactic ability once and for all. We must use syntactic
analysis due to its passivity since either a dog or a cat will do. Patients with non-fluent
aphasia fail not only in this but also in the following (3a) and (3b).
•
(3a) The man who pushed the woman is old.
•
(3b) The man who the woman pushed is old.
In (3a) the logical order is the same as word order, but in (3b) the word order becomes
first the theme and then the agent. In conclusion, the most distinct feature of
non-fluent aphasia is the incapacity of syntactic analysis. Due to this feature, Broca’s
aphasia is also called agrammatic aphasia.
Fluent
Contrary to non-fluent aphasia, fluent aphasia has more to do with
comprehension problems. Patients have poor semantic analysis but their articulation
and syntax are not bad.
Well this is … mother is away here working her work o'here to get her better, but
when she's looking, the two boys looking in the other part. One their small tile into
her time here. She's working another time because she's getting, too.
.
Credibility: First, this website has been set up by a PhD as well as therapist with
abundant experience of the UK National Health Service. Therefore, all the
information is professional and genuine. Most importantly, he analyses the disease
from different theories. Thus, his method makes the website more credible due to its
objectivity. Second, its founding date is February 2009, and it also keeps on updating
the latest discovery. Third, there is little advertisement. A website pertaining to
medical terms tends to be filled with pharmacy Ads, but miraculously this one
contains naught. Hence, it can be deduced that his opinion is not wavered by sponsors
and he has no intention to market any drug.
Application: I would like to model after Williamson’s argument that the Broca’s
aphasia patient has no ability to understand syntax but they only understand the
meaning through general reasoning. Second, he provides many raw data collected
from the aphasia patients. These data can be applied as examples in my essay.
Reference: Bergmann, A., Hall, K., and Ross, S. (Eds.). (2007) Language Files (pp.
355-359). The Ohio University Press.
Summary: The left hemisphere of the human brain can be categorized into three
lobes, three cortexes, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area and others. The language center is
composed of Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. The flow of linguistic information,
inclusive of hearing, reading, speaking, writing a word, has all to do with both areas.
Broca’s area is responsible for encoding our ideas and organizing the articulatory
patterns when we speak. In the other hand, Wernicke’s area is involved in language
perception when hearing and reading a word. It decodes the information we receive
and select the lexical entry from the mental lexicon. Metaphorically, the Wernicke’s
area is input and Broca’s area output. Therefore, this is the reason why Wernicke’s
aphasia is considered to be a disorder in speech comprehension; while Broca’s aphasia
has more to do with speech production.
Credibility: Written by the professors of the department of linguistics in the Ohio
University, this book proves itself to be authoritative. Also, it is the assigned reference
of our Introduction to Linguistics course. Therefore, its information must be
trustworthy.
Application: In my thesis, I would like to give basic information about Broca’s area
and Wernicke’s area. Thus, this chapter can help me illustrate the function of language
center. In addition, because it provides readers a clear procedure of how words are
read, spoken and heard, I can specifically point out in which chain does the nonfluent/ fluent patient’s brain is unable to operate.
Reference: no author, (2008) ‘How is aphasia diagnosed?’ ‘How is aphasia treated?’
In Aphasia. NIDCD Web. Retrieved from
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/aphasia.htm#diagnosed
Summary:
‘How is aphasia diagnosed?’ Individuals who are suspected for suffering from aphasia
are first sent to neurologist and then to a speech-language pathologist. The physician
will test the patient to accomplish some tasks such as asking an alternative question,
naming objects, arguing, socializing.
‘How is aphasia treated?’ The recovery from aphasia can be spontaneous and acquired.
Spontaneous recovery is happened when a transient ischemic strikes. However, most
recovery requests speech-language therapy. Such therapy has highest effect at
beginning. Under this therapy, patients can completely or partially recover after
continuing training at least two years. The degree of recovery depends on complex
factors, including the impairing degree, education level, age, health and so on. In fact,
the treatment of aphasia does not really aim at the regaining of language ability but
improving patients’ communication skills. Thus, they would train patients to
communicate through gesture or computers. Computers play a big role on helping
retrieving patients’ use of verbs and recognizing different phonemes.
Credibility: This website is made by National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders. An official website should be trustworthy because it
is set up by the authority and the public must consult it quite often so there
should be no error in it. In addition, this website provides ‘Contact Us’ for
viewers. This link indicates that the web founder is willing to take responsibility
for the information he/she offers and accept any advice and criticism. By doing
so, it displays its objectivity.
Application: In my conclusion, I would like to briefly discuss how people with
aphasia are treated and especially how family member can aid and support them.