Perceptual and acoustical analyses of phonemic paraphasias in nonfluent and fluent dysphasia

Phonemic paraphasias produced by nonfluent and fluent dysphasic adults during connected speech elicitations were examined using four perceptual and two acoustical variables. Results revealed important findings for each of the examined variables. The acoustical variables, however, were more helpful for differentiating the two dysphasic categories. The findings obtained also relate to factors such as phoneme frequency, suprasegmental feature of stress placement, anatomicophysiological characteristics of phonemes, and the interaction between the linguistic parameters of phonology and semantics. These factors have implications for the treatment of verbal dyspraxia in nonfluent and fluent dysphasia.