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Die Lesbarkeit von Wörtern als Funktion der grammatischen Wortklasse bei Aphasikern

Beitrag zu einer Neudefinition des Begriffs der Anomie

Readability of words as a function of their parts of speech in aphasies

A contribution to the definition of anomia

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Summary

Definitions of anomia as a symptom of aphasia have been classified into three categories. Some frequently cited experimental studies designed to establish a rank order of difficulty for parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs) have been briefly evaluated. An experiment has been conducted with 18 mild adult aphasies who were required to read lists of words which were controlled with respect to length, frequency of occurrence and part of speech. The results show that the linguistic category of part of speech has a highly significant influence on readability. Nouns are easier to read than adjectives and these easier than verbs. This finding does not necessarily contradict many definitions of anomia, though it calls into question the validity of many widely accepted interpretations. The results were explained in terms of phrase structure and dependence grammars.

Zusammenfassung

Ausgehend von der Analyse einer Vielzahl von Anomiedefinitionen, die in drei Gruppen eingeteilt wurden, sind einige Untersuchungen analysiert worden, welche Aussagen über die relative Schwierigkeit grammatischer Formklassen machen. In einem Experiment haben 18 erwachsene leichte Aphasiker zwei Listen von Wörtern gelesen, die hinsichtlich grammatischer Formklasse (Nomen, Adjektiv, Verb), Länge und Auftretenshäufigkeit kontrolliert waren. Dabei zeigte sich eine hochsignifikante Rangreihe der Schwierigkeit für das Lesen. Nomina sind leichter als Adjektive und diese leichter als Verben. Es ist diskutiert worden, daß dieser Befund nicht notwendigerweise im Widerspruch zu einer Vielfalt von Anomiedefinitionen steht. Die Resultate wurden phrasenstruktur- und dependenzgrammatisch erklärt.

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Die experimentelle Forschung ist sehr großzügig von der Heinrich-Hertz-Stiftung unterstützt worden

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Klatt, H.J. Die Lesbarkeit von Wörtern als Funktion der grammatischen Wortklasse bei Aphasikern. Arch. Psychiat. Nervenkr. 225, 333–348 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343305

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