Korean agrammatic production

Abstract

This study examines general characteristics of agrammatic production in Korean. Using the methodology found in Menn and Obler (1990b), which provides a consistent format for collecting, analysing, and presenting data, the study provides a description of the patterns of sparing and loss based on four types of narratives from two Korean agrammatic speakers. The subjects were seen to display the general properties associated with clinical descriptions of agrammatism: nonfluent, effortful, and dysprosodic. There was a tendency to substitute verbal inflections and omit nominal morphemes. Additionally, the subjects showed a preference for simple syntactic constructions and for canonical word order. It is concluded that the Korean findings parallel others, in that agrammatic aphasia in Korean involves similar basic production parameters but different language-specific characteristics. The findings are also considered in light of the most current syntactic account, the Tree-pruning Hypothesis (Friedmann & Grodzinsky, 1997). NOM = Nominative, ACC = Accusative, PL = plural, ADV = adverbial postposition, ADNZ = adnominaliser, ADVZ = adverbialiser, COMP = complementiser, POSS = possessive, PAST = past tense, HON = honorific, ASP = aspect, VFE = verb-final element.