In article <fisk-1705961729130001 at tty20.maze.ppp.uab.edu>,
fisk at eyes.uab.edu (Gary Fisk) wrote:
> In article <4ng7h6$ge3 at carbon.cudenver.edu>, cddugan at ouray.cudenver.edu (
> ) wrote:
>> > A student in my Biology of Consciousness class asked if persons
> > with Broca's Aphasia would suffer similar communication difficulties if
> > they used hand sign language instead of speech.
> >
> > Does anyone know the answer to this student's question? If you
> > do please post or email.
>> Language and speech are not necessarily the same thing. When strictly
> defined, Broca's aphasia is a *language* disorder, so sign language and
> written communication should be affected in a Broca's aphasic person as
> well as spoken language. If someone could not speak but could still
> perform good written language it would be diagnosed as a "speech
> apraxia". This means that the motor systems involved in speech are
> disrupted, but language is still intact.
>> Of course, in the real world Broca's aphasia tends to be messier than the
> textbook definition. Broca's aphasia and speech apraxia often occur
> together and are not easily separable. So the real world presentation of
> nonspoken language in someone diagnosed with Broca's aphasia might vary
> quite a bit.
>> GF
>> --
> Gary Fisk, Ph.D.
> University of Alabama at Birmingham
> ** I am not a spokesperson for my employer or anyone else **
If you are looking for a nice refence for this issue that you have raised,
just sign out a copy of Oliverm Sak's book "Seeing Voices". In it he
explores the nature of sign language and its neurologic and cultural
underpinnings and some of the related issues. He addresses the very issue
of the damage to Broca's speech centre and its adverse impact on discourse
in the Deaf individual who converses with American Sign Language.
P. Rumney M.D.