A unique modality‐specific domain for the production of neologisms: Recurrent perseveration and oral reading

Abstract

Background: Two commonly prevalent neurolinguistic constructs that have been clinically challenging are neologisms and perseveration. Both are integral parts of the language deficit that are seen in the spontaneous verbal output of patients with paragrammatism and neologistic jargon types of anomia. Both can appear in modality‐specific domains and usually co‐occur, adumbrating verbal output impairments. These are also known to occur in selected phases of the restitution, usually in the acute and sub‐acute periods, generally disappearing with recovery. Both constructs have been extensively investigated but largely as isolated phenomena. We show here that neologisms can occur in oral reading and that perseveration can be a major factor in the genesis of neologism.

Aims: To date, most patients observed to have neologistic jargon aphasia also exhibited anomia and impaired auditory comprehension. Traditionally, neologisms have been studied in spontaneous verbal output, or at confrontation naming or repetition contexts. This study focuses on oral reading of a patient with aphasia who produced neologisms, but who nevertheless demonstrated good comprehension for the spoken language. There was no neologism present in her spontaneous verbal output.

Methods & Procedures: The patient studied was a 76‐year‐old woman post removal of temporal lobe mass with subsequent haemorrhagic CVA. Neurolinguistic data were obtained from a standardised assessment and five treatment sessions in a 2‐month period. Transcription and analysis of the patient's oral reading revealed a profound disassociation in grapheme‐to‐phoneme conversion resulting in the production of neologisms in single‐word reading, which was further contaminated by perseveration.

Outcomes and Results: An analysis of the neologisms in reading aloud revealed that not just one process had contributed to their production; rather there were multiple mechanisms that were noted to be operational in the genesis of neologisms.

Conclusions: Neologisms can occur independently of impaired auditory comprehension; they can also extend beyond spontaneous verbal output and there are many linguistic processes that contribute to the genesis of neologism, with recurrent perseveration serving a crucial productive role in constructing the surrogate words that “mask” the deep retrieval blocks of words.

Keywords:

• Recurrent perseveration
• Deafferentation
• Lexical search
• Modality specific reading impairment
• Neologisms