Grammatism

Findings from the literature on language development, dyslexia, and adult s entence processing provide a vehicle for comparing two models of the sympto m complex associated with agrammatism. One model contends that agrammatism represents a deficit in linguistic structures. The other model maintains th at the linguistic behavior associated with agrammatism is the result of a l imitation in language processing. To adjudicate between the models, the pre sent paper examines one linguistic construction, the restrictive relative c lause. The results of experimental investigations across several subject po pulations reveal parallel patterns of linguistic behavior on this construct ion. The findings favor the processing limitation account of the linguistic difficulties experienced by agrammatic aphasics in comprehending sentences with a restrictive relative clause. (C) 2001 Academic Press