Noun and verb processing in Greek–English bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia and the eVect of instrumentality and verb–noun name relation
Journal
Brain and Language
Date Issued
May 2006
Author(s)
DOI
10.1016/j.bandl.2005.10.001
Abstract
Noun and verb comprehension and production was investigated in two groups of late bilingual, Greek–English speakers: individuals
with anomic aphasia and a control group of non-brain injured individuals matched for age and gender. There were no signiWcant diVerences
in verb or noun comprehension between the two groups in either language. However, verb and noun production during picture
naming was signiWcantly worse in the bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia in both languages, who also showed a speciWc verb
impairment in Greek and English. The potential underlying level of breakdown of the speciWc verb impairment was further investigation
with reference to two speciWc features of verbs: instrumentality and verb–noun relationship. Additional results revealed a facilitatory
eVect of Instrumentality in both languages. However, there was no eVect of verb–noun name relation in Greek, and a negative eVect of
verb–noun name relation was observed in English. Lemma retrieval seemed to be intact in this group of bilingual individuals whose main
problem seemed to arise during the retrieval of the phonological representation of the target word. This impairment was greater in
English. The Wndings are discussed in terms of three current models of word production.
with anomic aphasia and a control group of non-brain injured individuals matched for age and gender. There were no signiWcant diVerences
in verb or noun comprehension between the two groups in either language. However, verb and noun production during picture
naming was signiWcantly worse in the bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia in both languages, who also showed a speciWc verb
impairment in Greek and English. The potential underlying level of breakdown of the speciWc verb impairment was further investigation
with reference to two speciWc features of verbs: instrumentality and verb–noun relationship. Additional results revealed a facilitatory
eVect of Instrumentality in both languages. However, there was no eVect of verb–noun name relation in Greek, and a negative eVect of
verb–noun name relation was observed in English. Lemma retrieval seemed to be intact in this group of bilingual individuals whose main
problem seemed to arise during the retrieval of the phonological representation of the target word. This impairment was greater in
English. The Wndings are discussed in terms of three current models of word production.