LangCog Seminar - Arpita Bose
Connected Speech Characteristics in Alzheimer’s Disease and Post-Stroke Aphasia: Importance and Challenges of Determining Language-specific Markers in Linguistically Diverse Populations
LangCog Seminar - Arpita Bose
12 Feb 2025, 13:00 – 14:00
Characteristics of connected speech provide a valuable tool for diagnosing, disease monitoring and for developing communication strategies for a wide range of neurological populations, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Primary Progressive Aphasias (PPA) and post-stroke aphasia (APH). Our knowledge of linguistic features of connected speech in these conditions is primarily derived from English speakers, with some work in few European languages; very little is known regarding patterns of linguistic deficits in speakers of other languages, such as South Asian languages. In the UK substantial ethnic minority population uses language other than English. Recent research in the linguistic profile of connected speech in non-English speaking groups indicates that the profile of impairment is not comparative across languages, and certainly not comparative to impairments deemed characteristic of language breakdown in English. Although a large proportion of the global populace speak languages other than English, clinical literature in these languages remains under-represented. In this talk, I will present results from our ongoing research in connected speech across two themes:
1) Data from individuals with AD from speakers of Bengali and cross-linguistic comparisons in bilingual AD;
2) Data from our Aphasia in South Asian Language Project (ASAL-project) showcasing agrammatic aphasia characterization from five South Asian languages: Indo-Aryan language family (Hindi-Urdu, Bengali) and Dravidian language family (Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam).
In presenting these data, I will highlight the importance of developing language-specific markers for diagnosis in AD, PPA and APH. I will also discuss the utility of exploiting the typological differences between languages to help us better understand the nature of the impairments in different condition. I will end the talk with discussion for clinical and theoretical collaborations.
Dr Arpita Bose is a trained Speech-Language Therapist with research training in aphasia and other neurogenic disorders. She has received her PhD from University of Toronto and continued her research work at University of Windsor, Canada before joining University of Reading where she is currently an Associate Professor. Her primary research focus is on extending theoretical understanding of the interplay between cognitive, linguistic and speech motor processes during language production in monolingual and bilingual populations (e.g., aphasia, dementia, healthy ageing) and subsequently implementing these findings to develop better assessment and intervention strategies for clinical populations. She uses multidisciplinary methodologies (psycholinguistics, experimental psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience and speech-language therapy). Her current research interests include: bilingualism/multilingualism in aphasia and dementia with specific focus in language-specific deficits in under-explored languages of South-East Asia, language production in bilinguals with focus on ageing and cognition, capacity assessment and decision making in aphasia, and multi-method exploration language production difficulties in aphasia and other neurogenic disorders.
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