DISORDERED SPEECH PRODUCTION IN APHASIC AND NORMAL SPEAKERS

Two empirical studies are presented which seek to extend the parallels between disordered speech production in aphasia and in normals. Study 1 compares the rate and distribution of some theoretically interestin g error types in a jargon aphasic and a normal error corpus. Study 2 i s an investigation of how the error pattern of normal speakers evolves as utterances become more practiced. On the basis of these studies, w e offer a hypothesis about the nature of the variation between more an d less disordered systems. Our claim, which is developed in the contex t of spreading activation models of production, is that such variation is tied to the ability of the system to deliver activation to intende d units, relative to that of unintended units, within the time require d by the task at hand. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.