Broca’s Area (BA) and Language Articulation: Evidence from Arab Broca’s Aphasic

Abstract

Background: Neurolinguists investigated the role of BA in language production in terms of what phonological or syntactic aspects are impaired.

Aims: The purpose of this study is to investigate the role played by Broca’s Area (BA) in articulating Arabic syllables, nouns, verbs, and sentences by studying Saudi patient with that developed Broca’s aphasia as a result of suffering from a stroke.

Methods: After collecting data, one of the researchers interviewed the case at hand 5 times for 20 months (a session per 4 months). In each visit, the case was asked to repeat 84 Arabic syllables, 20 nouns, 20 verbs, and 20 sentences. The purpose of these sessions is to investigate whether or not Arabic phonological and syntactic aspects are affected in comparison to other languages. A test on production and selection of lexical items and another test on picture naming and selection were administered to the case. The researchers then transcoded the case’s speech by transliterating it using the transliteration system (Romanization) recommended by American Library Association- Library of Congress (ALA-LC). The last step was to analyze speech linguistically before it was statistically analyzed.

Conclusions: Results of the present study show that both phonological and syntactic aspects of Arab Broca’s aphasics are impaired. Also, Arab Broca’s aphasics become unable to produce, name or select words and/ or pictures. Outlined findings have been discussed and analyzed with regard to the previous research and studies conducted on the same topic.