Language mixing patterns in a bilingual individual with non-fluent aphasia |
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Authors: | Aviva Lerman Lia Pazuelo Lian Kizner Katy Borodkin Mira Goral |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, USA;2. Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, New York, USA;3. Department of Communication Disorders, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel;4. Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, New York, USA;5. MultiLing Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway |
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Abstract: | Background: Language mixing in bilingual speakers with aphasia has been reported in a number of research studies, but the reasons for the mixing and whether it reflects typical or atypical behaviour has been a matter of debate. Aims: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that language mixing behaviour in bilingual aphasia reflects lexical retrieval difficulty. Methods & procedures: We recruited a Hebrew-English bilingual participant with mild-moderate non-fluent agrammatic aphasia and assessed his languages at three timepoints. We analysed the participant’s Hebrew and English production for retrieval during single-word naming, sentences, and discourse, and identified all instances of language mixing. Outcomes & Results: We found that there was a greater frequency of language mixing during production of more difficult lexical items, namely the post-morbidly less proficient language (compared to the more proficient language), function words (compared to content words), and single-word naming (compared to retrieval in the context of connected speech tasks), but not for verbs (compared to nouns). Conclusions: In this bilingual participant with non-fluent aphasia, language mixing behaviour closely resembles lexical retrieval difficulty. Thus, we suggest that bilingual speakers with aphasia may mix their languages as a strategy to maximise communication. |
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Keywords: | Language mixing aphasia codemixing codeswitching bilingual |
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