CAN THE RIGHT-HEMISPHERE SPEAK

While a capacity for the right hemisphere in language and language rel ated functions is established, a role for the right hemisphere in spee ch production is controversial. The question of the nature of a possib le right hemisphere speech production capability has centered mainly o n the Jacksonian notion of nonpropositional speech. In this paper I ex amine whether the right hemisphere does have a particular role in nonp ropositional speech through an exploration of the neurophysiological e vidence, research in aphasic speech automatisms, and degree of proposi tionality in the retained speech of adult left hemispherectomy patient s. (C) 1997 Academic Press.