Presence or Absence of the Object Marker “Râ” in the Speech of Aphasic Patients With Agrammatic Broca’s Aphasia

Abstract

Introduction: The aims and the importance of the study: Regarding the importance of the object marker “râ” as one of the components of Persian sentences and its little investigation in aphasic Persian speakers, we decided to study its usage in the speech of aphasic patients with agrammatic Broca’s aphasia to know whether aphasic Persian speakers use “râ” in comparison to normal Persian speakers. The agrammatic aphasics are known for not using function words (like the object marker “râ”).
 Materials and Methods: In this experimental-descriptive study, two groups were employed. In the first group, six Persian children with Broca’s aphasia participated as the experimental group. The general linguistic capabilities of these patients were evaluated with the Persian aphasic test by speech therapy specialists. In the second group, six Persian-speaking normal persons participated as the control group. Two similar tests were administered to the aphasic and control groups, inspired by Caplan et al. 's test, to know whether they use “râ”. As there was a difference between the two groups, 1-way ANOVA was utilized to see if this difference was statistically significant. To analyze linguistic data, the approaches of Garman, Saffran, Kolk, Friedman, and Dolfić and Fabijanić were applied.
 Results: While the control group produced “râ” in all cases, the aphasic group never used it.
 Conclusion: It seems that using content words (like “nouns and verbs”) may be more vital than using function words (like “râ”).