[The impact of lesions in the right hemisphere on linguistic skills: theoretical and clinical perspectives].
BACKGROUND
A lesion of the right hemisphere of right-handers can result in verbal communication impairments. The recent development of theoretical frameworks with regard to discourse and pragmatic abilities, among others, now allows us to recognize and describe these impairments.


OBJECTIVE
To offer an overview of the verbal communication deficits that can be found in right-hemisphere-damaged individuals. These deficits can interfere, at different levels, with prosody, the semantic processing of words and discourse and pragmatic abilities.


METHODS
Such impairments appear to be present in about half of right-hemisphere-damaged patients and, when present, can result in different clinical profiles. These deficits raise the question of their labeling and their relationship with aphasia.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the evolution of the concept of language and the universal definition of aphasia, it is proposed that these deficits correspond to another manifestation of aphasia, thus challenging the idea that they are of a 'non-aphasic' nature.
Joanette
Y
Y
Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canadá.
Ansaldo
A I
AI
Kahlaoui
K
K
Côté
H
H
Abusamra
V
V
Ferreres
A
A
Roch-Lecours
A
A
D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D054022:Cerebrum; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology*