Derivation by prefixation in Slovenian: two aphasia case studies.
The present study is concerned with two Slovenian-speaking patients who were asked to produce, in various tasks, verbs, nouns, and adjectives derived by prefixation with prepositions. Despite differences due to their specific linguistic difficulties, both patients' performance was characterized by the differential processing of prefixes and remaining components of complex words. Prepositions in prefixation were mostly preserved, and less frequently substituted, regardless of the numerous errors produced in the remaining portion of the words. These errors seem clearly determined by the morphological structure of the words and therefore appear to be authentic morphological errors. These findings contribute to the theoretical debate on mental lexical representation, speaking in favor of a morphological decomposition in processing of prefixed complex words at different processing levels.
Semenza
Carlo
C
Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Neuroscience Center, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. semeza@univ.trieste.it
Girelli
Luisa
L
Spacal
Martin
M
Kobal
Jan
J
Mesec
Anton
A
D001039:Aphasia, Broca / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index