When does lexical availability influence phonology? Evidence from Jargon reading and repetition

ABSTRACT

Jargon aphasia is a language disorder characterised by phonological and nonword error. Errors are thought to arise when target segments are insufficiently activated, allowing non-target or recently used phonology to intrude. Words which are more frequent and familiar reside with greater degrees of activation and therefore should be less susceptible to error. The current study tested this hypothesis in a group of 10 people with Jargon aphasia using single word repetition and reading aloud. Each task had two lexicality conditions, one high and one low lexical availability word set. Measures of nonword quantity, phonological accuracy and perseveration were used in group and case series analyses. Results demonstrated that fewer nonwords were produced when lexical availability was greater. However, lexicality effects on phonological accuracy and perseveration were only observed in repetition in a sub-group of moderately impaired individuals, demonstrating that lexical information does not consistently influence phonological processing in Jargon aphasia.

KEYWORDS:

• Nonwords
• perseveration
• POI
• lexical processing
• auditory repetition
• reading aloud

Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to the participants and their families who support our work and continue to collaborate with us.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organisation or entity with any financial interest or nonfinancial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The work was funded by a Stroke Association postgraduate fellowship awarded to Emma Pilkington [grant number TSA PGF 2015-02]. The Stroke Association made no contribution to study design, data collection, interpretation or manuscript preparation.