What happens if parents suffer from aphasia? Will their children's first language acquisition be influenced? The following terms paper shall probe into these questions.
People suffering from the language disorder aphasia have difficulties in understanding and uttering language. They produce inappropriate or distorted words and cannot accept summons. Through this, communication with other human beings becomes problematic.
The appearances of aphasia are very different: often the disease is that distinctive that aphasics cannot produce speech voluntarily or, on the other hand, they need more time to find the words they are searching for. Jakobson claims that, as aphasia is an impairment of language, a competent linguistic examination of what in the pa-tient’s language is impaired is needed for making an exact diagnosis. Concerning Roch Lecours and Lhermitte, Jakobson is not only the one who has given neurolinguistic research an enormous impetus, but also suggests one of the first linguistic theories of aphasia. Due to that, this paper will first mainly focus on Jakobson’s linguistic theory based on clinical case studies conducted by Goldstein. For a better and clearer understanding I decided to differentiate two types of aphasia concerning Jakobson, namely similarity disorder and contiguity disorder, which both include different aspects or rather subtypes.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Aphasia concerning Jakobson
2.1. Similarity disorder
2.2. Contiguity disorder
3. Children’s first language acquisition
4. Influence of parent’s aphasia on children’s first language acquisition
5. Conclusion
Objectives and Research Themes
This academic paper examines the potential impact of parental aphasia on the process of first language acquisition in children. By bridging neurolinguistic theories of aphasia with developmental models of language learning, the study explores how the lack of standard social interaction and distorted speech patterns in aphasic parents might impede the natural language development of their offspring.
- Jakobson’s classification of aphasia (Similarity vs. Contiguity disorders)
- Mechanisms of children's first language acquisition
- The role of social interaction and child-directed speech (motherese)
- Comparative analysis of aphasic language and child language development
- The significance of metalanguage in early verbal behavior
Excerpt from the Book
2.1. Similarity disorder
According to Jakobson’s linguistic analysis on language pathologies based on the twofold character of language, each verbal behavior contains two different operations, namely the selection and combination of linguistic units. Concerning Jakobson, they are fundamental and underlie all verbal behavior (cf. Friedrich 2006: 423). In his essay Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances (1956), Jakobson says that “when the selective capacity is strongly impaired and the gift for combination at least partly preserved, then contiguity determines the patient’s whole behavior […]” (Jakobson 1956: 105-106); in this case the aphasic suffers from a similarity disorder.
In this type of language disorder, context is an essential and determining element. The aphasic has no problems in carrying on a conversation, but has difficulties in starting one. His utterances need to depend on the context to cope with his verbal task successfully: “he feels unable to utter a sentence which responds neither to the cue of his interlocutor nor to the actual situation” (ibid.: 101), but the chances of its successful performance by this class of patients is higher when the utterance is deeply embedded in the verbal or nonverbalized context (cf. ibid.). As a consequence, the main subordinating agent of the sentence, which is the subject, inclines to be omitted (cf. ibid.). This explains the difficulty for aphasics of starting a sentence, as the subject often builds the starting point. Regarding syntactically subordinated words – pronouns, pronominal verbs and verbs to construct the context like connectives and auxiliaries – Jakobson claims that they have an inherent reference to the context and are prone to survive (cf. ibid.).
Chapter Summary
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the social nature of language acquisition and establishes the research question regarding the influence of parental aphasia on children.
2. Aphasia concerning Jakobson: This section provides a detailed theoretical overview of Roman Jakobson’s linguistic theory of aphasia, specifically defining similarity and contiguity disorders.
3. Children’s first language acquisition: This chapter examines how children acquire language through social interaction, emphasizing the importance of child-directed speech and joint attention.
4. Influence of parent’s aphasia on children’s first language acquisition: This part connects the theoretical findings to analyze how the lack of proper verbal interaction from aphasic parents may negatively impact a child's language development.
5. Conclusion: The paper summarizes the findings, noting the potential influence of parental aphasia while identifying the need for further empirical research in this area.
Keywords
Aphasia, Roman Jakobson, Similarity Disorder, Contiguity Disorder, Language Acquisition, Child-Directed Speech, Motherese, Social Interaction, Metalanguage, Neurolinguistics, Language Pathology, Developmental Linguistics, Communication, Syntax, Semantics
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this paper?
The paper investigates the intersection of neurolinguistic impairment—specifically aphasia—and the developmental process of first language acquisition in children raised by parents with such disorders.
What are the primary theoretical pillars of the study?
The study relies heavily on Roman Jakobson’s linguistic classification of aphasia, comparing it with developmental models of language learning established by researchers like Eve V. Clark and Deb Roy.
What is the central research question?
The author explores whether the language disorder of a parent influences the first language acquisition process of their child, particularly if that child is exposed primarily to the aphasic speech of the parent.
Which scientific methods are utilized?
The paper employs a literature-based theoretical analysis, combining clinical case studies from Jakobson's framework with research on child-directed speech and interactional processes.
What is the focus of the main section of the paper?
The main part details the two types of aphasic disturbances (similarity and contiguity) and contrasts these with the prerequisites for successful language learning in children.
Which keywords best describe this research?
Key terms include aphasia, similarity/contiguity disorder, language acquisition, social interaction, motherese, and metalanguage.
How does Jakobson differentiate between similarity and contiguity disorders?
Similarity disorders involve impairments in the selection of linguistic units (e.g., word finding), while contiguity disorders involve impairments in combining those units into complex syntactical structures, often leading to a 'word heap' or telegraphic style.
What role does 'child-directed speech' play in the arguments presented?
The author argues that child-directed speech is essential for language acquisition; because aphasic parents may produce distorted or limited speech, they fail to provide the necessary social and linguistic cues required for the child to learn effectively.
- Quote paper
- Mara Galinski (Author), 2017, The influence of parents' aphasia on children's first language acquisition, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/456985
