Discourse Across Disorders: Acquired Neurogenic Conditions

This issue brings together studies that demonstrate the use of the latest methodologies in addressing discourse phenomena across the full range of acquired communication disorders, including motor speech disorders and those related to dementia. The authors have provided comprehensive descriptions of the analyses used, so that these analyses are readily translatable into clinical practice. They have explored monologues and dialogues, both important sources of information about functional language processing, and have related their results to relevant issues of social engagement and expression of personal identity.

In articles highlighting retained resources rather than deficits, and using a Systemic Functional Linguistic framework to analyze everyday interactions, Muller and Mok examine a conversation between two women with Alzheimer's disease, and Armstrong et al discuss how people with aphasia manage to convey opinions and feelings in an aphasia group setting. Using the different methodology of Conversation Analysis, Griffith et al demonstrate the applicability of this framework to multiple disorders, analyzing conversations related to Parkinson's disease. This article unpacks the dynamics of interactions when motor speech disorders rather than a linguistic difficulty constitute the reason for the primary breakdown. Coming from yet another theoretical perspective, Duff et al propose a new framework for viewing communication of individuals with traumatic brain injury using distributed cognition principles. The authors highlight the need to consider the interaction between communication and cognition, and the interaction of both of these with contextual factors. Olness et al capture different theoretical perspectives and provide a multilayered approach to discourse analysis, which culminates in the proposal of one of the first comprehensive clinical tools that can be used to assess narrative functionality. This too is a unique contribution. From a more neurologically focused perspective, Marini presents discourse data from individuals with right hemisphere damage, which builds on important hypotheses about the role of the frontal areas of the right hemisphere. And, finally, South et al provides some initial exploration of the language of individuals with the degenerative disease of amyotropic lateral sclerosis. Discourse analysis of such language is rare to date in the literature and provides yet another window into communication function across the spectrum of disorders.

It is hoped that the issue will provide an overview of both the types of analyses currently available and their applicability to research and clinical endeavors.