The Grammatical Nature of Minimal Structures

Impoverishment of Grammatical Features in a Non-fluent Aphasic Speaker
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4438-2982-3
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 140 Seiten

An important development in linguistic models is the shift from construction-oriented rules to elementary computations that generate complex grammatical expressions.

In this monograph, the author presents a systematic linguistic examination of an Italian aphasic speaker focusing on locality conditions as configurational restrictions on syntactic computations and on functional elements as fundamental triggers for computational processes.

The explanatory framework which has been adopted considers the grammar to be an integral part of language processing; it is a derivational model compatible with well-known parsing strategies such as the minimal link condition and the minimal chain principle. This approach to aphasia supports the hypothesis that linguistic deficit is an impoverishment of procedural capacities that manifests itself in reduced syntactic structures.

The book is recommended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics and theoretical linguistics, as well as medical researchers and speech therapists interested in the same fields. It can be adopted as principal text for the specific domain (syntax and aphasia).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Garraffa, Maria

Über Autor(innen)

Garraffa, Maria
Maria Garraffa is currently Researcher at the NPO (a non-profit social organisation) Marica De Vincenzi Foundation. She obtained her PhD in Cognitive Science with distinction from the University of Sienna, Italy. Her specialism is Theoretical Linguistics and Psycholinguistics. Her linguistic research focuses on aspects of morphosyntax in Romance languages and variations in locality conditions (such as in agreement configurations and relative clauses), and on the interaction between syntax and neurolinguistics, more specifically on syntactic computation in acquired and developmental disorders. This work has been supported by a grant from the Fondazione Caritro.

Her practical aim is to develop theoretical instruments to investigate language impairments and to define empirical paradigms for studying first language acquisition in typical and atypical conditions. In her research she is attempting to define the interactions that linguistic input/output systems need to establish in order to attain full competence in a natural language.

Her research experience in language pathologies is based on teamwork and an interdisciplinary approach to research that brings together linguists, speech therapists and neuropsychologists. She has published her research in international peer-reviewed journals and in national journals. She has experience as a visiting researcher in foreign institutions (CNL-lab, Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Harvard University,University of Edinburgh), and she collaborates with research groups at the University of Milan Bicocca, CISCL-Interdepartmental Centre for Cognitive Studies on Language in Sienna, University of Trento and University of Chieti.