ABSTRACT Background Language can be viewed and analysed at many levels. One of them is, “language in use” or discourse. A complex system of cognitive and linguistic processes is required for the performance of discourse; any deficits at this system level can impair the use of language. Studies have shown impaired performance of discourse in individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia (WA). In this condition the participant can talk fluently and excessively but lacks insight about the topic. The pattern of linguistic disruption seen in WA could be explored through the analysis of discourse grammar. Aims The present study aims to investigate the narrative discourse abilities of individuals with WA in comparison with Neurotypical adults (NTA) using qualitative and quantitative methods. Method & Procedure Five participants with WA (age 40–60 years) following cerebrovascular accident diagnosed by a Neurologist. Following this, WAB was administered on these participants. Five neurotypical Kannada bilinguals (age 40–60 years) were considered as controls. The narrative discourse sample on the topic “journey to a place” was video recorded and transcribed using IPA. Qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis approaches were used to assess the linguistic functions using discourse analysis scale and T-unit analysis respectively. Results The results revealed a significant difference between WA and NTA. In qualitative analysis, WA showed a significantly lower mean values for narrative proposition total and narrative non-proposition total (p < 0.05). Within-group comparison of narrative proposition total and narrative non-proposition total of discourse using Wilcoxon’s Signed Rank test revealed a significant difference for WA group. Findings were not significant for NTA group. For the quantitative analysis, the parameter Number of T-Units (NTU) showed significantly lower mean value for NTA group compared to WA group (p < 0.05). Both the groups obtained similar mean values for the parameters Number of Clauses (NC) and Number of Words Per Clauses (NWPC), p > 0.05. Summary and conclusion: This study facilitates the understanding about the discourse deficits in individuals with WA. During clinical presentation, most of the patients with fluent aphasia, Alzheimer’s Dementia and Schizophrenia exhibits similar linguistic deficits and are misdiagnosed when not complemented with a medical report. In such cases, discourse analysis would help to tap the incongruency at qualitative and quantitative linguistic performance of discourse. Hence, there is a need to approach each patient differently during the clinical evaluations and interventions.

中文翻译：

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韦尼克失语症中的话语

摘要背景语言可以在多个层次上进行查看和分析。其中之一是“使用中的语言”或话语。话语的表现需要一个复杂的认知和语言过程系统；这个系统层面的任何缺陷都会影响语言的使用。研究表明，韦尼克失语症 (WA) 患者的话语表现受损。在这种情况下，参与者可以流利而过度地交谈，但缺乏对主题的洞察力。可以通过对话语语法的分析来探索西澳语言中断的模式。目的 本研究旨在使用定性和定量方法调查 WA 个体与神经典型成人 (NTA) 相比的叙事话语能力。方法 ＆程序 神经科医生诊断出脑血管意外后患有 WA（40-60 岁）的五名参与者。在此之后，对这些参与者进行了 WAB。五名神经典型卡纳达语双语者（年龄 40-60 岁）被视为对照。关于“地方之旅”主题的叙事话语样本是使用 IPA 录制和转录的。采用定性和定量的语篇分析方法分别使用语篇分析量表和T单位分析来评估语言功能。结果 结果显示 WA 和 NTA 之间存在显着差异。在定性分析中，WA 的叙事命题总数和叙事非命题总数的平均值显着较低（p < 0.05）。使用Wilcoxon's Signed Rank检验对话语的叙事命题总数和叙事非命题总数进行组内比较显示WA组存在显着差异。NTA 组的结果不显着。对于定量分析，与 WA 组相比，NTA 组的参数 T 单位数 (NTU) 显示出显着较低的平均值（p < 0.05）。两组的子句数 (NC) 和每个子句的字数 (NWPC) 参数均值相似，p > 0.05。总结和结论：这项研究有助于理解 WA 个体的话语缺陷。在临床表现中，大多数流利性失语症、阿尔茨海默病和精神分裂症患者表现出类似的语言缺陷，如果没有医疗报告的补充，就会被误诊。在这种情况下，话语分析将有助于挖掘话语在定性和定量语言表现上的不一致。因此，需要在临床评估和干预期间以不同的方式处理每个患者。