Syn ac ic de ici s in language comp ehension in indi iduals wi h
schizoph enia and B oca’s aphasia
Raji h K Ra ind en a, b, c*, Ashok Kuma P a, b
a Depa men o Psychia y, Go e nmen Medical College, Kozhikode, Ke ala, India, 673008
b Depa men o Psychia y, Ins i u e o Men al Heal h and Neu osciences (IMHANS), Kozhikode, Ke ala,
India, 673008
c Neu oscience Resea ch Labo a o y, Ins i u e o Men al Heal h and Neu osciences (IMHANS), Kozhikode,
Ke ala, India, 673008
Backg ound: The syn ax is de ined as he
sys em o ules o combining wo ds in o ph ases
and sen ences. indi iduals wi h schizoph enia,
especially hose wi h o mal hough diso de
(FTD), a e conside ed o ha e language
impai men s a hei lexical, seman ic and
discou se le el. Syn ax in hese pa ien s is
usually conside ed o be p ese ed. B oca's
aphasia is a diso de in which he syn ac ic
abili ies o he pa ien s a e comp omised. This
s udy aims o ind he syn ac ic e o s in
language comp ehension in indi iduals wi h
o mal hough diso de and hose wi h B oca's
aphasia.
Me hod: Twen y-six Malayalam sen ences o
a ying wo d o de and syn ax we e ead ou o
he pa ien s. Sen ences we e de oid o any eal-
wo ld meaning. This was done o p e en he
subjec s om using hei knowledge in pa sing
he sen ences. Examine hen asked ques ions
ega ding he in o ma ion con eyed by he
sen ences. The pu pose o he expe imen was
o assess he subjec ’s abili y o unde s and ‘who
did wha o whom in he sen ences.
Resul s: Ten pa ien s wi h o mal hough
diso de (mean age = 45.5 yea s) and 9 pa ien s
wi h B oca’s aphasia (mean age = 47.1 yea s)
pa icipa ed in he s udy. Those wi h FTD had a
mean es sco e o 15.4 (SD = 4.4), while hose
wi h B oca’s aphasia sco ed 12.5 (SD =5.5). The
di e ence was no s a is ically signi ican . Bo h
g oups did poo ly wi h simple noun ph ase
p onouns, h ee-place passi e, h ee-place cle
objec , objec -subjec ela i e, objec -objec
ela i e, passi e conjoin agen , simple ac i e
e lexi e and conjoined sen ences. Bo h g oups
did well wi h noun ph ase aising, op a i e,
impe a i e, wo-place cle objec , wo-place
ac i e, h ee-place ac i e, h ee e lexi e
exp essions, ac i e conjoined heme, simple
ac i e p onoun and unca e passi e.
Conclusion: This s udy shows ha syn ax
de ici in B oca’s aphasia is no absolu e. Fo
ac i e, impe a i e and op a i e sen ences, he
syn ax is ai ly p ese ed in language
comp ehension. This may be ele an while
communica ing wi h hese pa ien s. While in
schizoph enia, we ha e demons a ed ha
de ici s in syn ax occu in passi e sen ences and
wi h p onouns.
(*Co esponding au ho : [email p o ec ed]om)
