Abstract
Research in bilingual healthy controls (BHC) has illustrated that detailed characterization of verbal fluency along with separate measures of executive control stand to inform our understanding of the lexical and cognitive underpinnings of the task. Such data are currently lacking in bilinguals with aphasia (BWA). We aimed to compare the characteristics of verbal fluency performance (semantic, letter) in Bengali–English BWA and BHC, in terms of cross-linguistic differences, variation on the parameters of bilingualism, and cognitive underpinnings. BWA showed significant differences on verbal fluency variables where executive control demands were higher (fluency difference score, number of switches, between-cluster pauses); whilst performed similarly on variables where executive control demands were lower (cluster size, within-cluster pauses). Despite clear cross-linguistic advantage in Bengali for BHC, no cross-linguistic differences were noted in BWA. BWA who were most affected in the independent executive control measures also showed greater impairment in letter fluency condition. Correlation analyses revealed a significant relationship for BWA between inhibitory control and number of correct responses, initial retrieval time, and number of switches. This research contributes to the debate of underlying mechanisms of word retrieval deficits in aphasia, and adds to the nascent literature of BWA in South Asian languages.
Highlights
More than half of the world population is bi/multilingual [1]
The mean and standard deviation values for the verbal fluency variables for Group (BWA; bilingual healthy controls (BHC)), Language (Bengali; English), and Condition (Semantic; Letter) averaged across participants are presented in Table 6
belonging to different families (Bengali)–English bilinguals with aphasia (BWA) to determine the executive control underpinnings for manifestations of their of Bengali–English BWA to determine the executive control underpinnings for manifestations of their performance, and to identify how the performance is modulated by bilingualism related variables
Summary
More than half of the world population is bi/multilingual [1]. There has been a surge in research in bi/multilingual populations in the past decade. All speakers completed a set of subjective language background questionnaires (language acquisition history, language of instruction, self-rated language proficiency, language usage, and language dominance). To measure language acquisition history, instruction of language during education, self-rated language proficiency (in speaking, comprehension, reading, and writing), and the current language usage pattern, we adapted and modified the questionnaire developed by Muñoz et al [49]. BWA speakers completed the self-rated language proficiency and language usage questionnaires twice to separately report their pre-stroke and post-stroke language abilities, with the support from caregiver or family members as needed. There were no significant differences between the two groups (i.e., BHC vs pre-stroke ratings for BWA) on the following variables: Language acquisition history, language of instruction during education, self-rated language proficiency, language usage, and language dominance (all p > 0.05, see Table 3)
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