Aphemia: an isolated disorder of articulation

Aphemia is a disorder with prominent speech abnormality. Since its descript ion by Broca, there has been debate regarding the neuropsychological disorg anization underlying aphemia: is aphemia an articulatory disorder or a lang uage disorder? We describe a patient with markedly impaired articulation, b ut preserved receptive and written language function and buccal-facial coor dination. The location of his stroke was in the left precentral gyrus, unde rcutting a small area of motor and premotor cortex. This case suggests that aphemia can occur as an isolated articulation deficit without language inv olvement or more widespread bulbar apraxia, and may be a severe form of apr axia of speech. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.