Broca’s vs. Wernicke’s aphasia: a comparison of enacted communication methods in discourse tasks

This thesis explores the use of enactment, when a person acts out a scene or event in conversation, in individuals with aphasia. Aphasia, a language disorder that most commonly results from stroke, can be classified as nonfluent or fluent based upon how continuously spoken language is produced. Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia are the most representative types of nonfluent and fluent aphasia, respectively. Enactment can help people with aphasia communicate, as it often involves nonverbal methods of communication that individuals with this disorder can readily produce. Three broad categories of enactment, including direct reported speech (e.g., “She said ‘How are you?’”), sound effects (e.g., “boom”), and gesture (e.g., turning the hand as if unlocking something), were analyzed and compared within three conversational tasks for 20 individuals with Broca’s aphasia and 20 individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia. The two groups’ use of these methods was also compared between the three tasks to determine if task type affected enactment use. Additionally, the relationship between enactment use and the severity of spoken language impairments was investigated. Participants with Broca’s aphasia produced more enactment overall, and task was found to influence the types of enactment used. Furthermore, relationships between enactment and the severity of spoken language impairments were revealed, indicating that use of enactment may facilitate and/or compensate for spoken language production abilities. These findings are relevant to the field of speech-language pathology, as clinicians can encourage clients with aphasia to implement enactment in order to improve the effectiveness of their communication.