Communication Characteristics of Broca’s Aphasic Individual With Short-Term Memory Loss: A Study of the Relevance

Abstract

People with Broca's aphasia (PBA) have been commonly known to show difficulties in expressing language. The speech partner of PBA assumes that PBA’s utterances do not make sense. In fact, PBA do not make ideas arbitrarily. Pragmatically, their utterances in communication can still be analyzed. This study aims to explain the verbal and non-verbal language characteristics of PBA. To achieve this goal, a qualitative approach was carried out using the case study method on individuals with Broca aphasia who had hemorrhagic strokes. The framework used to reveal communication strategies was the relevance theory of communication and cognition of Sperber & Wilson. The findings of the study show that verbal communication was conducted by retrieving words that were already available in the mental lexicon and then by paraphrasing them through association and collocation. Non-verbal communication was carried out through cues, especially when the individual had difficulties recalling words. The individual's failure to produce language and derive ideas from the mental lexicon is the result of disturbances in the short-term memory area.