A Broca's aphasic patient was tested using a “Two Syllable Word Test of Aphasia” three times at each stage of the recovery process. The results were as follows.
(1) At the stage of severe impairment, the patient could neither comprehend nor express the prosodic structures and the successive structures of the ‘signifiants’ of two syllable words. (2) At the stage of moderate impairment, the patient could understand the prosodic structures. (3) At the stage of mild impairment, the patient could understand the successive structures, but he could not manipulate them adequately yet. Through each stage, the patient was unable to manipulate each sequence of the nonsense two syllables.
The above mentioned results suggest that this Broca's aphasic patient had a structural disability in comprehending and expressing the prosodic strucure and the successive structure of the ‘signifiant’ of a word. This structure changed for the better in a particular order during the recovery process. Furthermore, it is speculated that this process of structural change is also found in the recovery process from his disability in comprehending and expressing the ‘signifiant’ of a sentence. Consequently, it is concluded that this Broca's aphasic patient had a structural deficiency that changed for the better.
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