Schizophasia and jargonaphasia: A comparative description with comments on Chaika's and Fromkin's respective looks at “schizophrenic” language

Abstract

Different varieties of deviant spoken language segments (phonemic, morphemic, verbal, and syntagmic paraphasias and télescopages, neologisms) and different forms of deviant spoken language behaviors (thematic production, dyssyntaxia, glossolalia, and glossomania) are defined and exemplified. Their production is shown to be rule-governed at phonetic and phonological levels; it is shown to be rule-governed or rule-deviant at morphological and/or syntactic levels. Their qualitative and quantitative attributes in normal discourse in the jargonaphasias and in schizophasia are compared. It is underlined that the latter is a behavior episodically observed in only a small proportion of subjects considered to be schizophrenics. Awareness of, and deliberateness in, deviant language production are discussed. A distinction is made between deviations testifying to diminished ability, which betray the speaker's intention, and deviations testifying to singular but rigorous use of ability, which are adapted to the speaker's intentions. The former are contended to be common in the jargonaphasias and occasional in standard discourse and schizophasia, the latter to be characteristic of schizophasia and of various forms of “literary” language, but incompatible with aphasia. In lapidary terms, this implies that ordinary speakers think and talk standard, that (most) jargonaphasic speakers think standard but talk deviant, that schizophasic speakers think quaint and talk accordingly. It is further suggested that the differential diagnosis of jargonaphasia and schizophasia, when made on the sole basis of tape recorded samples of discursive language, resorts mainly to quantitative appraisal of different types of deviant segments on one hand, and, on the other, to the listener's interpretations of the speaker's mode of ideation. Within the realm of pathological language production, nearly exclusive and important production of phonemic transformations is said to be characteristic of conduction aphasia; combined production of numerous phonemic and verbal transformations, and of neologisms, is said to be characteristic of Wernicke's aphasia proper; nearly exclusive and important production of verbal transformations is said to be possible in so-called transcortical sensory aphasia; and predominant production of morphemic transformations and of glossomaniac utterances is said to be characteristic of schizophasia. Linguistic definitions of the “disturbances” behind schizophasic utterances are reviewed. Indications are given concerning the evolution of language behavior in jargonaphasia and schizophasia.