Paragrammatisms: A longitudinal study of an Italian patient

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Abstract
The speech of an Italian fluent aphasic, R.B., was analysed for paragrammatisms (grammatical errors), using the methods employed by Butterworth and Howard (1987). Unlike that study, samples of speech were collected over 7 months in the evolution of R.B.'s condition. Analysing speech from a language with a richer inflexional system than English, and assessing the changes in the pattern of errors over time allows a more stringent test of Butterworth and Howard's proposed explanation for the incidence of grammatical errors in fluent aphasia-an across-the-board impairment of control, rather than specific deficits in grammatical processes, monitoring or lexical selection. R.B.'s speech was similar to that of Butterworth and Howard's patients, and showed no consistent trends in the pattern of errors over time, with one minor exception. These data were interpreted as consistent with an impairment of control, and inconsistent with other candidate accounts.