The role of linguistics in the evaluation and treatment of aphasia

Abstract

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (2015), “aphasia is a neurological disorder caused by damage to the portions of the brain that are responsible for language production or processing.” The evaluation of language disorders is a complex process usually conducted within a clinical framework by a speech-language pathologist with the help of several assessment tools. However, in order to obtain a better insight regarding the type of impairment the patient suffers from it is necessary to analyze the patient’s language taking into account the linguistic components of language - phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. By performing this analysis, the language pathologist or linguist easily observes if aphasia, as a language disorder, affects only one or more of these components and suggests adequate treatment to the patient.