SELF-REPAIR PATTERNS IN CONVERSATIONAL SPEECH OF MANDARIN APHASICS

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate same-turn self-repair performance in Mandarin aphasics. Results indicated that the overall self-repair performance of Wernicke’s and Broca’s aphasics is in general similar. However, there are some substantial differences between the two patient groups. The relative higher distribution of the completion pattern in Wernicke’s group could be due to their rather fluent production ability. Broca’s better error-detecting ability could be attributed to the less impaired comprehension ability. Evidence from the distribution frequency of each self-repair pattern in Mandarin aphasics supports the claim that repetition is the most common type in self-repair pattern found in English aphasic speakers (e.g., Lebrun, 1987; Levelt, 1983; Maher et al., 1994) as well as in Mandarin normal speakers (Chui, 1996; Tseng, 2006). This similarity might indicate a universal tendency of the self-repair use. In sum, three possible factors involved in the choice of self-repair methods are the processing difficulty, the linguistic deficits of different patients, and the value of the repair pattern affecting the self-repair performance of aphasics.