‘I suppose’ as a resource for the construction of turns at talk in agrammatic aphasia

Abstract

This paper uses the methodology and analytical findings of conversation analysis to investigate the use of a particular subject‐verb construction within the context of turns at talk in conversation. An investigation of the conversation of an English speaking man with agrammatism reveals recurrent use of ‘I suppose’ to provide structure within turns at talk. The speaker's ability to produce subject‐verb constructions is known to be generally poor. Thus, it is suggested that the use of a particular construction that can be produced with relative ease may be interactionally motivated by the need to take a reasonably unproblematic turn at talk despite the constraints of an agrammatic aphasia. Preliminary thoughts on the implications of this finding for the assessment of aphasia are presented.

• Agrammatic aphasia
• conversation analysis
• subject‐verb construction
• adaptation