1. Introduction to
Linguistics X
Agrammatism

2. to A recap of last week Linguistics Introduction Finite-state machinesb a
MAJOR PROBLEM: lack of memory
Phrase Structure
Grammar
Cannot capture nicely…
Transformations
Surface structure
Deep structure
transformations
maps to semantics
Maps to Phonology
Syntactic structure

3. to Transformations Linguistics Introduction Syntactic structure
Surface structure
Deep structure
transformations
maps to Semantics
maps to Phonology (speech)
Syntactic structure
ב. מה סיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____?
א. סיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה
ג. דנה סיפרה שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה
ד. מה דנה סיפרה שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____?
ה. דנה סיפרה את הסיפור שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה
ו. * מה דנה סיפרה את הסיפור שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____?
ה. השיחה שלך עם יוסי עצבנה את דני
ו. * עם יוסי השיחה שלך ____ עצבנה את דני
א. דני דיבר עם יוסי
ב. עם יוסי דני דיבר _____
ג. ליאת אמרה שדני דיבר עם יוסי
ד. עם יוסי ליאת אמרה שדני דיבר ____

4. to Wh-movement Linguistics Introduction NP VP S N V PP P NP VP S N V
מה דן שם על השולחן?
Dan sam praxim al ha-ʃulxan
Dan sam praxim al ha - ʃulxan NP VP S
Det N V PP P
Dan sam ma al ha-ʃulxan
Dan sam ma al ha - ʃulxan NP VP S
Det N V PP P
Deep structure
ma Dan sam ti al ha-ʃulxan?
mai Dan sam ti al ha - ʃulxan NP VP S
Det N V PP P CP
comp
Surface structure

5. Introduction to
Linguistics
The X-bar theory

6. Wh-movement (with X-bar scheme)
Introduction to
Linguistics
Wh-movement (with X-bar scheme)
mai Dan sam ti al ha - ʃulxan IP C’ I’ NP PP CP
comp VP V’ V P’ P

7. to Functional categories Linguistics Introduction Tense phrase
Agreement phrase
Lexical
categories
Functional

8. to Back to aphasiology Linguistics Introduction 1885 2016 Fluency
Comprehension
Repetition
YES NO
(Anomia)
Conduction
Transcortical
sensory
Wernicke’s
Broca’s
motor
Global
mixed
The theory of aphasia was inspired by
Wernicke and Lichtheim’s model..

9. to Back to aphasiology Linguistics Introduction
Problems with the early accounts of aphasia:
• The dimensions of description and diagnosis are modalities of performance
(production/comprehension/repetition)
• The evaluation of behavior is subjective: scoring is based on a good/poor scale
The new approach (80’s)
• Controlled experiments In several linguistic levels (syntactic, semantic etc.)
• Quantify errors, the dependent measure, allowing for objective tests

10. to Comprehension in Broca’s aphasia Linguistics Introduction
(1) The ball that the boy is kicking is red
Above chance
(2) The cat that the dog is chasing is black
chance
Grodzinsky, 2008
(3) The girl is drying the woman
(4) The girli who the woman is drying ti
Above chance
chance
(5) The cat that chased the dog was very big
(6) The cati that the dog chased ti was very big

11. to Agrammatism Linguistics Introduction
• Evidence in recent years, suggests that the picture of loss of grammar in
agrammatism is incorrect, and that the deficit is actually finer grained
• Some syntactic abilities were found to be intact, while some other structures
were found to be differentially impaired in different languages following the
same lesion
• Studying the selectivity of the impairment allows testing and deciding
competing models for representation of the syntactic structures that
are impaired

12. Introduction to
Linguistics
Syntactic framework

13. Verb inflection in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Verb inflection in agrammatism
1) Completion task
In the tense condition, the missing verb differed from the supplied verb in tense only:
in the agreement condition the missing verb differed from the existing verb in one agreement feature only:
2) Repetition task

14. Verb inflection in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Verb inflection in agrammatism
Results:
agreement
tense
a clear dissociation has been found between two types of verb inflection: While tense was severely impaired, agreement was relatively intact both in Hebrew and in Arabic
Conclusions:
Not all functional categories are impaired in agrammatic production!
As TP is situated higher than AgrP on the syntactic tree, we might suggest that higher nodes are harder for agrammatics to access

15. Question production in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Question production in agrammatism
מירי מציירת מה
1) Spontaneous speech analysis
2) Question repetition task
3) Elicitation task

16. Question production in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Question production in agrammatism
Results:
A severe impairment in Wh-question production across all tasks

17. Question production in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Question production in agrammatism
Conclusions:
Again, dissociation is found between Wh questions, which require the highest nodes, and are therefore impaired, and yes/no questions, which are produced without the high nodes, and are thus spared.
A completely different pattern is expected (and found) in languages in which yes/no questions do require the high nodes (like English, and Dutch)
Do you like pasta?
.."you like pasta?"
Yes/no questions instead of Wh questions
Wh-in-situ

18. Embedded sentences in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Embedded sentences in agrammatism
The cat that [chased the dog] was very big
The cati that [the dog chased] ti was very bigi
Subject relative clause
Object relative clause
Grodzinsky, 2008
No movement
Movement
שעבוד לפועל
NO MOVEMENT
זיקת נושא
זיקת מושא
MOVEMENT ti i

19. Embedded sentences in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Embedded sentences in agrammatism
1) Spontaneous speech analysis
Only 5% of the sentences produced by agrammatics were embedded (60% in healthy controls)
2) Embedded sentence repetition task
Production difficulties of embedded sentences are not due to transformations, but rather to a structure which require a high node, and the use of a complementizer
Production difficulties of embedded sentences are not due to sentence length

20. Embedded sentences in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Embedded sentences in agrammatism
3) Relative clause elicitation task
the failure in relative clauses was not due to lack of comprehension of the task
relative clause
Control

21. Embedded sentences in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Embedded sentences in agrammatism
Another interesting type of response that appeared in the repetition and elicitation tasks in Hebrew, was the use of reduced relative instead of a full relative
זו הילדה הרוכבת על אופניים
זו הילדה שרוכבת על אופניים
Do not require a high node (no CP/TP)
Require the highest node (CP)
Once again, the tree pruning hypothesis is confirmed:
The impaired structures are those that involve the highest nodes of the syntactic tree, while the embedded structures that do not include these nodes are intact.

22. Verb transformation in agrammatism
Introduction to
Linguistics
Verb transformation in agrammatism
1) Sentence repetition task
The verb “lands” in the highest node (CP)
An interesting connection was found between tense errors and the ability to move the verb to a higher node. Tense error were produced only when the sentence did not include a verb transformation. However, in cases where a patient was able to repeat the sentence with the verb transformation correctly, the verb was also correctly inflected.

23. Tree pruning hypothesis
Introduction to
Linguistics
Tree pruning hypothesis
Severe patients
intact agreement, impaired tense, and impaired Wh questions and CP embeddings
Mild patients
tense and agreement are relatively intact, but Wh questions and CP embeddings are impaired

24. Tree pruning hypothesis
Introduction to
Linguistics
Tree pruning hypothesis
Severe patients
Mild patients
This difference in severity is easily captured by the height of the deficit on the tree. The severe patients are impaired both in TP and in CP; the mild patients are only impaired higher up, in CP.