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Polyglot aphasics and language mixing: a comment on Perecman (1984)
Brain and Language
|November 1, 1985
Summary
Language mixing and spontaneous translation in polyglot aphasics may not always indicate deficits. These behaviors are also observed in healthy multilingual individuals, suggesting context is key for diagnosis.
Area of Science:
- Neurolinguistics
- Psycholinguistics
- Clinical Linguistics
Background:
- The interpretation of language mixing and spontaneous translation in polyglot aphasics is debated.
- Perecman (1984) suggested these phenomena indicate linguistic or prelinguistic processing deficits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To challenge the assumption that language mixing and spontaneous translation in aphasia exclusively signify deficits.
- To propose that these behaviors can also occur in healthy multilingual individuals.
Main Methods:
- Commentary on existing research and theoretical proposals.
- Comparative analysis of behaviors in aphasic and non-aphasic polyglots.
Main Results:
- Language mixing, including utterance-level mixing, is observed in normal polyglots.
- Spontaneous translation is also a common behavior in non-aphasic multilingual individuals.
Conclusions:
- Language mixing and spontaneous translation in polyglot aphasics do not automatically indicate a language deficit.
- Accurate diagnosis requires thorough pre- and post-injury language and speech assessment to differentiate between normal variation and pathological deficits.