The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms
We hypothesize that linguistic (dis-) organization in the schizophrenic brain plays a much more central role in the pathogenesis of this disease than commonly supposed. Against the standard view, that schizophrenia is a disturbance of thought or selfhood, we argue that the origins of the relevant fo...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00971/full |
| _version_ | 1817996141985267712 |
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| author | Wolfram eHinzen Wolfram eHinzen Wolfram eHinzen Joana eRosselló |
| author_facet | Wolfram eHinzen Wolfram eHinzen Wolfram eHinzen Joana eRosselló |
| author_sort | Wolfram eHinzen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We hypothesize that linguistic (dis-) organization in the schizophrenic brain plays a much more central role in the pathogenesis of this disease than commonly supposed. Against the standard view, that schizophrenia is a disturbance of thought or selfhood, we argue that the origins of the relevant forms of thought and selfhood at least partially depend on language. The view that they do not is premised by a theoretical conception of language that we here identify as ‘Cartesian’ and contrast with a recent ‘un-Cartesian’ model. This linguistic model empirically argues for both (i) a one-to-one correlation between human-specific thought or meaning and forms of grammatical organization, and (ii) an integrative and co-dependent view of linguistic cognition and its sensory-motor dimensions. Core dimensions of meaning mediated by grammar on this model specifically concern forms of referential and propositional meaning. A breakdown of these is virtually definitional of core symptoms. Within this model the three main positive symptoms of schizophrenia fall into place as failures in language-mediated forms of meaning, manifest either as a disorder of speech perception (Auditory Verbal Hallucinations, AVHs), abnormal speech production running without feedback control (Formal Thought Disorder, FTD), or production of abnormal linguistic content (Delusions). Our hypothesis makes testable predictions for the language profile of schizophrenia across symptoms; it simplifies the cognitive neuropsychology of schizophrenia while not being inconsistent with a pattern of neurocognitive deficits and their correlations with symptoms; and it predicts persistent findings on disturbances of language-related circuitry in the schizophrenic brain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T02:17:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-835d156192744613a1f9d37ca36dd0ca |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T02:17:49Z |
| publishDate | 2015-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-835d156192744613a1f9d37ca36dd0ca2022-12-22T02:18:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-07-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.00971126923The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptomsWolfram eHinzen0Wolfram eHinzen1Wolfram eHinzen2Joana eRosselló3Universitat de BarcelonaUniversity of DurhamSpain to ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats)Universitat de BarcelonaWe hypothesize that linguistic (dis-) organization in the schizophrenic brain plays a much more central role in the pathogenesis of this disease than commonly supposed. Against the standard view, that schizophrenia is a disturbance of thought or selfhood, we argue that the origins of the relevant forms of thought and selfhood at least partially depend on language. The view that they do not is premised by a theoretical conception of language that we here identify as ‘Cartesian’ and contrast with a recent ‘un-Cartesian’ model. This linguistic model empirically argues for both (i) a one-to-one correlation between human-specific thought or meaning and forms of grammatical organization, and (ii) an integrative and co-dependent view of linguistic cognition and its sensory-motor dimensions. Core dimensions of meaning mediated by grammar on this model specifically concern forms of referential and propositional meaning. A breakdown of these is virtually definitional of core symptoms. Within this model the three main positive symptoms of schizophrenia fall into place as failures in language-mediated forms of meaning, manifest either as a disorder of speech perception (Auditory Verbal Hallucinations, AVHs), abnormal speech production running without feedback control (Formal Thought Disorder, FTD), or production of abnormal linguistic content (Delusions). Our hypothesis makes testable predictions for the language profile of schizophrenia across symptoms; it simplifies the cognitive neuropsychology of schizophrenia while not being inconsistent with a pattern of neurocognitive deficits and their correlations with symptoms; and it predicts persistent findings on disturbances of language-related circuitry in the schizophrenic brain.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00971/fullDelusionsHallucinationslanguage and thoughtformal thought disorderSelf-disturbanceLanguage in schizophrenia |
| spellingShingle | Wolfram eHinzen Wolfram eHinzen Wolfram eHinzen Joana eRosselló The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms Frontiers in Psychology Delusions Hallucinations language and thought formal thought disorder Self-disturbance Language in schizophrenia |
| title | The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms |
| title_full | The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms |
| title_fullStr | The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms |
| title_full_unstemmed | The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms |
| title_short | The linguistics of schizophrenia: thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms |
| title_sort | linguistics of schizophrenia thought disturbance as language pathology across positive symptoms |
| topic | Delusions Hallucinations language and thought formal thought disorder Self-disturbance Language in schizophrenia |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00971/full |
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