Linguistics and Aphasia Psycholinguistic and Pragmatic Aspects of Intervention

Linguistics and Aphasia is a major study of recent developments in applying psycholinguistics and pragmatics to the study of acquired language disorders (aphasia) and their remediation. Psycholinguistic analyses of aphasia interpret disorders in terms of damaged modules and processes within what was once a normal language system. These analyses have progressed to the point that they now routinely provide a model-based rationalefor planning patient therapy. Through a series of case studies, the authors show how the psycholinguistic analysis of aphasia can be assessed for its effectiveness in clinical practice.Pragmatic approaches to the study of aphasia are of more recent origin. Ruth Lesser and Lesley Milroy evaluate their considerable significance to the study of aphasia and their relevance to practical issues of diagnosis and treatment. Controversial analysis, in particular, offers a fruitful and productive framework within which to assess the functional adequacy of the language used by aphasic speakers in everyday contexts.

General Editor's PrefaceTranscription conventionsPart I: Background1. Introduction2. Aphasia - the clinical backgroundPart II: Models and Methods3. Applying linguistics in aphasia research and therapy4. Psycholinguistic models, lexical processing5. Psycholinguistic models, sentence processing6. Pragmatics, theoretical issues7. Coherence in discourse8. The structure of conversation9. Conversation as a collaborative achievement: some conversational management proceduresPart III: Implications and Applications10. Applying psycholinguistics to intervention: some preliminary considerations11. Applying psycholinguistics to intervention: some clinical studies12. Applying pragmatics in intervention13. Contrast and complement: some concluding remarksReferencesIndex