The Interaction of Preserved Pragmatics and Impaired Syntax in Japanese and English Aphasic Speech

Abstract Elicited narrative studies have shown that the underlying pragmatic factor of empathy is relatively preserved in aphasic speakers of Japanese and English (7 Japanese and 14 English-speaking aphasics of varied diagnostic types). Occasional “reversal errors” can be explained in terms of a conflict between the normal encoding of the empathic characteristics of an event and the syntactic limitations imposed by impaired production processes. To account for these findings, we propose a production model following Levelt (1989) for making pragmatic choices among syntactic forms. We also suggest that preferential access to “canonical form” might be a matter of surface morphosyntax, rather than involving semantics or more abstract levels of syntax.