6533b81ffe1ef96bd127747a

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The neurolinguistics of the US/THEM structure in aphasia

subject

description

The aim of the paper was to show the importance of distinction between US and THEM which is disrupted in the patients with aphasia and leads to social isolation. It should be stressed that the distinction between US and THEM is deeply rooted in couture and language. It has great social and psychological significance since foreigners – speaking imperfect language are as a rule excluded from the society. Hence, aphasic persons tend also to be excluded and they become an object of pity. Neurolinguistic aspects of aphasia are also discussed. It is stressed that the structure of person and number constitute essential conditions (along with time) for the proper use of verbs. After presenting difficulties encountered by classic theories of aphasia a microgenetic theory is described with emphasis put on its possibility to explain aphasic symptoms. It presumes that every speech act re-creates and passes through, in a matter of milliseconds, the entire sequence of processes that has unfolded in the evolution of the species and the growth of the individual, from the primitive medullary reflexes (ME/NOT-ME), to the emotional reactions controlled by the limbic system (ME/YOU) to the cortex. The paper ends with a presentation of the patient CW who is unable to discriminate from the present or the past. The result of his “mental wandering” in time is that his subjective time cannot be coordinated with objective time, and that is a precondition for coordinating the subjective time of one person with that of another. Such coordination is in turn vital to the formation of a concept of US.