Recognition of derivations in Broca's aphasics

Abstract

A well-known feature of Broca's aphasia is the problem of handling “small words.” It has been claimed that patients show these problems in both language production and language perception. The traditional dichotomy of “function” words and “content” words is probably not a good description of the classes of words that are affected and intact. It has long been recognized that not only do Broca's aphasics have problems with free closed class morphemes, but that also bound morphemes, such as verb inflections, are often omitted in spontaneous speech. The question arises whether all bound morphemes, being members of the closed class category, are difficult to process for Broca's aphasics. Using a lexical decision task the recognition of derivational word forms was studied in Broca's aphasics and two control groups. The pattern of results is very similar in the three groups. Derivational word forms are recognized as lexical items independent of the stem. It is concluded that Broca's aphasics can process derivational affixes appropriately. The consequences of this conclusion for the characterization of the class of “small” words are discussed.