LangCog Seminar - Arpita Bose

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.