ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a topic dear to Jean-Luc Nespoulous, namely the adaptive behaviour of patients with agrammatic aphasia. When studying aphasia, priority tends to be given to clinical and linguistic descriptions of symptoms in verbal behaviour, so that inferences about the cognitive disruptions responsible for them—and any compensatory strategies—can be drawn, as proposed by Nespoulous (1973, 1996). However, describing and interpreting aphasia, particularly agrammatic aphasia, has proved challenging. Attempts to pin down its linguistic features have yielded some rather puzzling findings, although authors agree that variable features cannot be ignored in clinical descriptions and accounts (Caramazza & Berndt, 1985; Goodglass & Menn, 1985; Kolk & Van Grunsven, 1985; Mounin, 1967; Nespoulous, 1990; Pillon, 1987). Many studies have been published over the past 40 years exploring different linguistic and neuropsychological interpretations of agrammatism in Broca’s aphasia (Bastiaanse & Thompson, 2012; Fromkin, 1995; Goodglass, 1976; Kean, 1985; Menn & Obler, 1990; Tissot et al., 1973). The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of some of the features of agrammatism, discussing theories as to the nature of its underlying deficit and the potentially prominent role played by the adaptations that manifest themselves in verbal behaviour. We also underscore the need to take variability seriously, both within and across patients, languages and tasks, as aphasic symptoms cannot be described independently of individual, typological and contextual factors.
