Selective alteration of native, but not second language articulation in a patient with foreign accent syndrome.
The present study deals with a right-handed female polyglot suffering from a Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) which affects her native language (L1), but not her other languages learnt since the age of 12. She had a small infarct in the left corona radiata as the result of a carotid occlusion. Her L1 was Spanish, but she also had a good command of French, English and Catalan (L2). Aphasia tests did not reveal any other significant alteration in any language. Analyses of pre-morbid and post-morbid voice recordings revealed that FAS affected Spanish dramatically, but no important changes were observed for French. Results were interpreted as showing that different brain areas control articulation of L1 and L2 learnt after a critical period.
Avila
César
C
Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Clínica i Psicobiologia, Universitat Jaume I, E-12071 Castelló, Spain. avila@psb.uji.es
González
Julio
J
Parcet
Maria-Antònia
MA
Belloch
Vicente
V
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D020212:Carotid Artery Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D002343:Carotid Artery, Internal / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013577:Syndrome