Proper names and noun-to-determiner movement in aphasia: a case study
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 1, 2026

Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping
Published on: August 12, 2019
Carlo Semenza1, Alessia Granà, Romina Cocolo
1Department of Psychology, University of Trieste, Italy. grana@psico.univ.trieste.it
Abstract:
Proper names (PN) have properties that are different from those of common names (CN) and as such underlie different syntactic rules. According to one of these rule, in many languages, PN, unlike CN, do not take the determiner. It has been suggested that this happens because PN move themselves from noun position to determiner position. The present study addressed the question of whether noun to determiner movement should be just considered a formal description or rather reflects actual processing. A single aphasia case study and a group study on Alzheimer's patients provide experimental support to the view that movement from nominal to determiner position reflects some psychological computation.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Symbolic Understanding II: Displaced Reference
Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions
Thought Disorders
Disorganized and unusual thought processes mark thought disorders in schizophrenia. One key feature is disorganized speech, where an individual's conversation includes loosely...
Language and Cognition
Prosopagnosia

