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Aphasias

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Research in Clinical Pragmatics

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 11))

Abstract

Aphasias are a family of language impairments. They are associated with focal damage to the neurological networks that support language and that are typically localized to the left cerebral hemisphere. This chapter examines the pragmatic abilities of people who have aphasia. Component, perspectivist and functional views of pragmatics are each considered, for their influence on the operationalization of pragmatic ability in aphasia. The chapter adopts a functional view of pragmatics, which assesses situated discourse produced by people with aphasia for its coherence, as a primary index of pragmatic ability. Specifically, samples of personal narratives told by people who have aphasia – both elicited personal narratives in monologue and personal narratives naturally embedded in conversation – are assessed for their referential and evaluative coherence. Natural reactions and responses of interlocutors to the situated narratives told by narrators with aphasia provide converging evidence for the pragmatic ability of the narrators. Examination of the samples suggests that coherence is intentionally and collaboratively developed by narrators with aphasia through a dynamic integration of linguistic content and contextual sources of meaning-making. This narrative coherence is interpreted as a manifestation of the pragmatic competence of people who have aphasia.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (grant number R03-DC005151). Human research participation was approved by the University of North Texas Institutional Review Board.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

    Gloria Streit Olness

  2. School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Callier Center for Communication Disorders, University of Texas, 1966 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX, 75235, USA

    Hanna K. Ulatowska

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  1. Gloria Streit Olness
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  2. Hanna K. Ulatowska
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Correspondence to Gloria Streit Olness .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Louise Cummings

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Olness, G.S., Ulatowska, H.K. (2017). Aphasias. In: Cummings, L. (eds) Research in Clinical Pragmatics. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_9

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