ABSTRACT

Background

Agrammatic speech is characterized by reduced speech rate, reduced utterance length and lack of grammatical complexity, with grammatical morphemes often omitted or substituted. At the word level, verbs have been argued to be particularly vulnerable: agrammatic speakers produce fewer verbs or use a less diverse range of verbs than unimpaired speakers and the use of finite verbs is compromised. However, this description is based on agrammatic narrative speech from languages that express Tense, Aspect and Agreement through verb inflection. To date, a few studies have described narrative speech in a language without verb inflection (e.g., Standard Indonesian). Thai is another language that does not use verb inflection but uses constructions with serial verbs. Another typical feature of Thai, which has not been investigated in agrammatic speakers, is the use of particles to express politeness, although agrammatic speakers of Standard Indonesian have an impaired use of (different) particles but produce the passive construction (which is a way to express politeness) to a normal extent.

Aim

The current study aimed to characterize Thai agrammatic speech and to analyse the use of verbs and polite particles.

Methods

Nine Thai agrammatic and nine non-brain-damaged (NBD) speakers participated in the study. Narrative speech was elicited in a semi-standardized interview and by picture description. First, the presence of general features of agrammatic speech were investigated in Thai: reduced speech rate and utterance length, and lack of grammatical complexity. This was followed by an in-depth analysis of verb and particle production.

Results

As in other languages, Thai agrammatic speakers talked slowly and with short utterances. However, the use of embedded sentences was normal. They produced fewer verbs, more specifically, their production of the serial verb construction was seriously impaired. Remarkably, the use of polite particles was spared, in fact, the agrammatic speakers produced more of these particles than the NBD speakers, although this may have been influenced by the context.

Conclusions

Thai agrammatic speech resembles that of other languages in terms of speech rate and utterance length. Interestingly, the specific features of Thai that were investigated, serial verbs and polite particles, both showed different patterns to normal, and merit further investigation in the future.

中文翻译：

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泰语语法的特点

摘要

背景

语法语音的特点是语速降低、话语长度减少和缺乏语法复杂性，语法语素经常被省略或替换。在词的层面上，动词被认为是特别脆弱的：与未受损的说话者相比，语法说话者产生更少的动词或使用较少多样化的动词，并且限制动词的使用受到损害。然而，这种描述是基于通过动词变位表达时态、方面和一致的语言的语法叙述性演讲。迄今为止，一些研究已经描述了一种没有动词屈折变化的语言（例如标准印尼语）的叙述性演讲。泰语是另一种不使用动词变形但使用连系动词结构的语言。泰语的另一个典型特征，尚未在语法使用者中进行调查，

目标

目前的研究旨在表征泰语语法语音并分析动词和礼貌助词的使用。

方法

九名泰语语法和九名非脑损伤（NBD）的人参加了这项研究。叙述性演讲是在半标准化采访和图片描述中引发的。首先，研究了泰语语法语音的一般特征：降低语速和话语长度，以及缺乏语法复杂性。接下来是对动词和助词产生的深入分析。

结果

与其他语言一样，泰语语法使用者说话缓慢且话语短促。然而，嵌入句子的使用是正常的。他们产生的动词较少，更具体地说，他们的连串动词结构的产生受到严重损害。值得注意的是，没有使用礼貌的助词，事实上，语法说话者比 NBD 说话者产生了更多的这些助词，尽管这可能受到上下文的影响。

结论

泰语语法语音在语速和话语长度方面与其他语言相似。有趣的是，被调查的泰语的具体特征，连环动词和礼貌助词，都表现出与正常情况不同的模式，值得今后进一步研究。