Unit 7- Impairments in Pragmatics and Discourse

What is discourse?

A unit of language that conveys a message

Pragmatic competence relies on:

Ability to read nonverbal signs in conversation Use of knowledge about a person or topic that is not overtly stated at the present moment Interpretation of nonliteral language (e.g., idioms, sarcasm, humor) Interpretation of paralinguistic/prosodic cues The melody of speech Ability to use context to give meaning to language

Some sample analyses:

Cohesion analysis Story grammar Politeness marker analysis Topic analysis Use of compensatory strategies

Examples of Formulaic expressions

Conversational/social speech formulae Idioms and proverbs Pause fillers Discourse elements Sentence/utterance initials Conventional expressions (collocations, lexical bundles)

Examples of automatic speech

Counting Reciting days of the week, months of the year

Informal assessment of Pragmatics

Narrative analysis Interviews Behavioral observation

Formulaic language

Overlearned words, phrases, or longer linguistic units that are: Known to the native speaker Occur naturally in discourse Are important for normal social interaction

Examples of recited speech

Pledge of Allegiance, Humpty Dumpty, prayers, etc.

Grice's cooperative principle of conversation: four maxims

Quality- make conversation meaning Quantity- don't give too little or too much info Relevance- importance to conversation Manner- specific and less ambiguity

Is what sort of stroke is formulaic language reduced?

RH and subcortical stroke

Formal/structured assessment of Pragmatics

Rating scales Checklists Standardized assessments

Three approaches to assessment evolving from pragmatic theory

Rating scales Focus on assessing inferential aspects of language (Making inferences) Standardized pragmatic language assessments

McDonald and colleagues are studying indirect contextual cues to clarify the relation between inferencing and pragmatic and communicative competence, focusing on:

Sarcasm Use of hints Theory of mind

____ can be used to examine functional communication with more objectivity

Scales

Functions of formulaic language

Structural support Semantic Social bonding

Standardized assessments of pragmatic language competence

The Communicative Abilities of Daily Living-2 (Holland, 1980) Communication in stimulated environments The Functional Assessment of Communication Skills for Adults (ASHA-FACS) Indirectly examines the pragmatics of affective and functional communication The Awareness of Social Inference Test (McDonald et al., 2002) Test ability pick up on sarcasm, humor, etc.

Novel language production relies on what region of the brain?

The left hemisphere

What is the main goal of all treatment?

To improve functional communication.

Promoting Aphasic Communicative Effectiveness (PACE)

Treatment for pragmatic impairments

Examples of pragmatic behaviors

Turn taking Topic initiation Topic maintenance Eye contact Responds appropriately in conversation Asks questions Gives information Uses appropriate gesture, body posture, facial expressions, personal space Sarcasm/humor Politeness (important during therapy) Self-correction/self-monitoring (important for patients with Brian injury)

Pragmatics = (C/F/U)?

Use

Nonpropositional/formulaic language is often preserved following _____ stroke even when ____ is present.

left hemisphere; aphasia

What is pragmatics?

social use of language The context in which language is used

Pragmatic competence

the ability to understand the speaker's intended meaning.

Psycholinguistic approaches to discourse analysis and treatment are based on the idea that:

there is a disruption in linguistic rule system or access to modules within the individual

PACE promotes _____, _____, and _____ by patients/clients in a naturalistic context

turn-taking, providing information, asking questions

Sociolinguistic approaches to discourse analysis and treatment has a greater focus on the (C/F/U)____ of language as opposed to (C/F/U) ___.

use; form

Assessment should ideally utilize:

videotaped interactions

Discourse genres

• Conversation • Narration • Expository • Procedure