Presence or Absence of the Object Marker “Râ” in the Speech of Aphasic Patients With Agrammatic Broca’s Aphasia

Zahra Tarkashvand; Belghis Rovshan; Azar Mehri; Gholamhossein  Karimi Doostan

doi:10.18502/jmr.v14i3.7717

Zahra Tarkashvand Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Belghis Rovshan Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Azar Mehri Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Gholamhossein Karimi Doostan Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences,University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jmr.v14i3.7717

Keywords: Broca’s aphasia, Agrammatism, The object marker “râ”

Abstract

Introduction: The aims and the importance of the study: Regarding the importance of the object marker “râ” as one of the components of Persian sentences and its little investigation in aphasic Persian speakers, we decided to study its usage in the speech of aphasic patients with agrammatic Broca’s aphasia to know whether aphasic Persian speakers use “râ” in comparison to normal Persian speakers. The agrammatic aphasics are known for not using function words (like the object marker “râ”).

Materials and Methods: In this experimental-descriptive study, two groups were employed. In the first group, six Persian children with Broca’s aphasia participated as the experimental group. The general linguistic capabilities of these patients were evaluated with the Persian aphasic test by speech therapy specialists. In the second group, six Persian-speaking normal persons participated as the control group. Two similar tests were administered to the aphasic and control groups, inspired by Caplan et al. 's test, to know whether they use “râ”. As there was a difference between the two groups, 1-way ANOVA was utilized to see if this difference was statistically significant. To analyze linguistic data, the approaches of Garman, Saffran, Kolk, Friedman, and Dolfić and Fabijanić were applied.

Results: While the control group produced “râ” in all cases, the aphasic group never used it.

Conclusion: It seems that using content words (like “nouns and verbs”) may be more vital than using function words (like “râ”).