Aphasia: A societal and clinical appraisal of pragmatic and linguistic behaviours

Abstract

Pragmatic abilities of eleven aphasics classified into fluent and nonfluent groups were examined, and compared with global ratings of communicative adequacy. Further, subjects' pragmatic performance was compared with performance on two standardised linguistic measures. All subjects demonstrated high levels of appropriate pragmatic behaviours and were apparently resourceful in using the context, frequently facilitated by use of compensatory communicative strategies. Similar and different pragmatic deficits were noted for both groups. Regardless of classification and linguistic severity, subjects were less impaired on pragmatic compared to standardised linguistic measures. Implications were highlighted, emphasising the importance of pragmatics relative to other aspects of language function.