Thought Disorder and Language Use in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Schizophrenic speakers sometimes fail to produce coherent discourse. This is the theme of the present monograph, and in this first chapter we introduce the notion of discourse failures and provide a background to the study. Discourse failures (see Section I) occur when the listener cannot follow the speaker, even though the speaker is using familiar words in generally well-formed sentences. These failures do not always occur in the productions of schizophrenic speakers, but when they do, they are regarded as “one of the most outstanding characteristics of schizophrenic thinking” (Cameron, 1938b, p. 2).

It is frequently observed that though schizophrenics use proper words and produce reasonably well-formed sentences, one is unable, after-having heard a series of such sentences, to comprehend what has been said. (Pavy, 1968, p. 175)