Phonological and syntactic influences on semantic misnamings in aphasia

Semantic paraphasias from two group studies of picture naming by German aph asic patients were analysed for phonological and syntactic similarities wit h their targets. Phonological similarity was determined by comparing the ta rgets' phonological form with both the actual semantic paraphasias and the respective semantic competitors (as defined by membership to the targets' s emantic fields). Applying this category-sensitive method, the semantic para phasias were found to be phonologically similar to their targets significan tly more often than expected by chance. Syntactic similarity was determined by examining the paraphasias for preservation of the targets' grammatical genders. The number of gender-preserving paraphasias differed significantly from the number expected by chance. Both results are used to discuss the s tatus of semantic paraphasias in current aphasiology and to test prediction s derived from psycholinguistic models of language production.