Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia
Some researchers assert that “normal” mixing of words from one language into another occurs more often in multilingual individuals with aphasia (PWA) than in matched healthy controls (HC) (e.g., Chengappa et al., 2004). In one case-study, language-mixing was seen to help PWA increase their communica...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2014.64.00053/full |
| _version_ | 1818110692199235584 |
|---|---|
| author | Avanthi Paplikar Mira Goral Loraine Obler |
| author_facet | Avanthi Paplikar Mira Goral Loraine Obler |
| author_sort | Avanthi Paplikar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Some researchers assert that “normal” mixing of words from one language into another occurs more often in multilingual individuals with aphasia (PWA) than in matched healthy controls (HC) (e.g., Chengappa et al., 2004). In one case-study, language-mixing was seen to help PWA increase their communication (Sebastian et al., 2012). Our discourse experiment compared lexical language-mixing in bilingual PWAs and matched HCs to determine its effects on discourse length and quality.
Participants
Our participants were 8 Kannada-English speakers, 5 mild to moderate non-fluent aphasia (according to the WAB) (X = 36.4 months post-onset;) and 3 matched controls (Mean age of participants: 57.83; mean years of education: 14.76).
Methods
Each participant recounted three personal narratives and described three pictures in three language conditions. In the first condition participants were shown a photo of a Kannada-speaker and told in recorded Kannada that the assigned-listener spoke only Kannada, so they should speak only Kannada. The second condition was for English, mutatis mutandis. In the third condition participants heard, in appropriately language-mixed instructions, that the assigned listener was bilingual so they should use both languages.
Transcription and Scoring
All discourse recordings were transcribed by two bilingual Kannada-English SLPs, inter-rater reliability was assured. Total words per narrative, percent of language-mixed words, and ratings of ‘overall success’ per narrative (1: extremely poor; 7: excellent) were analyzed.
Results
Overall, the PWA produced fewer total words (X = 43.21) than the HC (X = 87.58). The HC produced most words in the Kannada-only condition (98.83 vs. 83.16 in the English-only condition and 80.8 in the ok-to-mix condition). The PWA, by contrast, produced most words in the ok-to-mix condition, especially in the personal narratives where they produced many more words in the mixed-language condition (68.8) than in the English-only condition (31.6).
Mixing occurred most often in the personal narratives of the PWA: 14% of the time vs. 4.32% for the PWA for picture description; for HC, 2.54% and 2.12% respectively. However the greater amount of mixing PWA included in the personal narratives was not associated with marked differences in overall narrative success for the personal narratives (3.77) and the picture descriptions (3.37).
Conclusion
In sum, while PWA may not altogether avoid language-mixing with monolingual listeners, they appear to mix less when they know their listeners are monolinguals, not bilinguals. PWAs’ personal narratives are markedly longer when their listener is bilingual, though ratings of ‘overall success’ of the discourse are not linked to the degree of patients’ mixing. The lack of differences in the rated success of the more- and less-mixed samples suggests that, contrary to our hypothesis, language-mixing did not improve quality of communication. |
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| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T02:51:11Z |
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| spelling | doaj.art-4b25563718844b50a05d30e83eee26162022-12-22T01:23:18ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782014-04-01510.3389/conf.fpsyg.2014.64.0005398039Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual AphasiaAvanthi Paplikar0Mira Goral1Loraine Obler2Graduate Center, City University of New YorkLehman College, City University of New YorkBoston University School of MedicineSome researchers assert that “normal” mixing of words from one language into another occurs more often in multilingual individuals with aphasia (PWA) than in matched healthy controls (HC) (e.g., Chengappa et al., 2004). In one case-study, language-mixing was seen to help PWA increase their communication (Sebastian et al., 2012). Our discourse experiment compared lexical language-mixing in bilingual PWAs and matched HCs to determine its effects on discourse length and quality. Participants Our participants were 8 Kannada-English speakers, 5 mild to moderate non-fluent aphasia (according to the WAB) (X = 36.4 months post-onset;) and 3 matched controls (Mean age of participants: 57.83; mean years of education: 14.76). Methods Each participant recounted three personal narratives and described three pictures in three language conditions. In the first condition participants were shown a photo of a Kannada-speaker and told in recorded Kannada that the assigned-listener spoke only Kannada, so they should speak only Kannada. The second condition was for English, mutatis mutandis. In the third condition participants heard, in appropriately language-mixed instructions, that the assigned listener was bilingual so they should use both languages. Transcription and Scoring All discourse recordings were transcribed by two bilingual Kannada-English SLPs, inter-rater reliability was assured. Total words per narrative, percent of language-mixed words, and ratings of ‘overall success’ per narrative (1: extremely poor; 7: excellent) were analyzed. Results Overall, the PWA produced fewer total words (X = 43.21) than the HC (X = 87.58). The HC produced most words in the Kannada-only condition (98.83 vs. 83.16 in the English-only condition and 80.8 in the ok-to-mix condition). The PWA, by contrast, produced most words in the ok-to-mix condition, especially in the personal narratives where they produced many more words in the mixed-language condition (68.8) than in the English-only condition (31.6). Mixing occurred most often in the personal narratives of the PWA: 14% of the time vs. 4.32% for the PWA for picture description; for HC, 2.54% and 2.12% respectively. However the greater amount of mixing PWA included in the personal narratives was not associated with marked differences in overall narrative success for the personal narratives (3.77) and the picture descriptions (3.37). Conclusion In sum, while PWA may not altogether avoid language-mixing with monolingual listeners, they appear to mix less when they know their listeners are monolinguals, not bilinguals. PWAs’ personal narratives are markedly longer when their listener is bilingual, though ratings of ‘overall success’ of the discourse are not linked to the degree of patients’ mixing. The lack of differences in the rated success of the more- and less-mixed samples suggests that, contrary to our hypothesis, language-mixing did not improve quality of communication.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2014.64.00053/fullAphasiabilingualismdiscourse analysisnon-fluent aphasialanguage-mixing |
| spellingShingle | Avanthi Paplikar Mira Goral Loraine Obler Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia Frontiers in Psychology Aphasia bilingualism discourse analysis non-fluent aphasia language-mixing |
| title | Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia |
| title_full | Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia |
| title_fullStr | Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia |
| title_short | Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia |
| title_sort | language mixing discourse length and discourse quality in bilingual aphasia |
| topic | Aphasia bilingualism discourse analysis non-fluent aphasia language-mixing |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2014.64.00053/full |
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