Linguistic and cognitive aspects of proverb processing in aphasia

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to explore proverb competence in aphasia within an ethnographic framework. A battery of proverb tests and a questionnaire were constructed to collect the data. The battery was designed to explore the changes in the form and the meaning of proverbs resulting from aphasia, while the questionnaire served the purpose of tapping aphasics knowledge of proverb use. The experimental battery was designed to include the dichotomy of in-context and out-of-context tasks. The basic assumption that underlay the analysis of the experimental data was that, to understand the mechanism of proverb use in aphasia, one should include qualitative as well as quantitative analyses. The aphasic subjects, who exhibited a mild level of language impairment, to a great extent preserved the ability to comprehend proverbs and the ability to use them under experimental conditions. Methodological guidelines coming from this research are discussed.