Abstract
This inquiry investigated tone use among Yoruba-speaking adults recovering from an aphasic insult/attack initiated by a cerebral vascular accident (CVA), otherwise known as a stroke. In pursuing the aim of the study, the research was guided by three research questions, namely, do Yoruba-speaking aphasic adults have the perceptual ability to perceive tone in the language; can Yoruba-speaking aphasic adults differentiate between the three lexical tones in the language; and which of lexical tones do Yoruba speaking aphasic adults find difficult to perceive? The study drew upon the theoretical and analytical scope of the autosegmental approach and a constructivist methodology paradigm inspired by a descriptive research design that used the qualitative approach. Data elicited from purposively sampled informants via structured interviews involving two groups of participants three aphasic Yoruba individuals and three Yoruba non-aphasic individuals in Nigeria. The purposive sampling was premised on informants’ dialectal proficiency, availability and diversity, and occurrence of CVA (stroke). The aphasic subjects were identified with the initials AB, CD and EF to conform to confidentiality etiquette in clinical linguistics. For ethical consideration, the informants were required to fill in a consent form before eliciting data from them. Once that was done, the aphasics were availed 100 words from the combined Swadesh 200 and Ibadan 400 wordlist of essential and cultural items, recorded by the non-aphasic individuals who speak Yoruba as their first language, to identify which tones they perceive. The data elicited was analysed using the perceptual approach in which the recorded data was listened to several times to discover if adult Yoruba speakers that are aphasic were still able to recognise the high ( ́), mid ( ̄) and low tone (̀ ) in words. The findings reviewed that Yoruba aphasics have diverse perceptual abilities of tone. Furthermore, it was established that Yoruba aphasics displayed varying deficiencies in differentiating the three lexical tones of Yoruba. Of the three lexical tones (H, M and L), the unmarked M tone was consistent, while the H and L tones had varying perceptual outcomes among the CVA-aphasics. The implication of the finding is that tone recoveries among CVA-aphasics is never the same and, therefore, calls for various linguistic therapies according to each CVA-aphasic case.
Highlights
From time immemorial, language has proven to be at the centre of human existence
Several studies have addressed different aspects of aphasia among people who have had an aphasic insult. Notable among these are [2], who explored the role of inflectional morphology in agrammatism; [23], who conducted a phonological analysis in the speech of Nigerian bilingual adults and [16], who examined the pronominal production resumption, focus constructions and focused declarative in Akan
The current study was guided by the following research questions: 1) Do Yoruba-speaking aphasic adults have the perceptual ability to perceive tones in the language? 2) Can Yoruba-speaking aphasic adults differentiate between the three lexical tones in the language? 3) Which lexical tones does Yoruba speaking aphasic adults find difficult to perceive?
Summary
Language has proven to be at the centre of human existence. It is the conduit of ideas by which humans have been able to initiate, sustain and sometimes destroy their dayto-day undertakings both in the private and public domains. The study arises from a review of related literature highlighting that many studies have looked at aphasia, there have never been substantial studies in clinical linguistics that have explored neurological-related speech disorders among aphasic patients who speak some African languages. Because of those knowledge gaps above, this article investigates whether tonological processes triggered by certain lexical items present in the speech of Yoruba non-aphasic patients is evident in that of Yoruba aphasic patients. The current study was guided by the following research questions: 1) Do Yoruba-speaking aphasic adults have the perceptual ability to perceive tones in the language? 2) Can Yoruba-speaking aphasic adults differentiate between the three lexical tones in the language? 3) Which lexical tones does Yoruba speaking aphasic adults find difficult to perceive?
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