TY - JOUR
T1 - The language of schizophrenia
T2 - An analysis of micro and macrolinguistic abilities and their neuropsychological correlates
AU - Marini, Andrea
AU - Spoletini, Ilaria
AU - Rubino, Ivo Alex
AU - Ciuffa, Manuela
AU - Bria, Pietro
AU - Martinotti, Giovanni
AU - Banfi, Giulia
AU - Boccascino, Rocco
AU - Strom, Perla
AU - Siracusano, Alberto
AU - Caltagirone, Carlo
AU - Spalletta, Gianfranco
PY - 2008/10
Y1 - 2008/10
N2 - Language disturbance is one of the main diagnostic features in schizophrenia and abnormalities of brain language areas have been consistently found in schizophrenic patients. The main aim of this study was to describe the impairment of micro and macrolinguistic abilities in a group of twenty-nine schizophrenic patients during the phase of illness stability compared to forty-eight healthy participants matched for age, gender and educational level. Microlinguistic abilities refer to lexical and morpho-syntactic skills, whereas macrolinguistic abilities relate to pragmatic and discourse level processing. Secondary aims were to detect the effect of macrolinguistic on microlinguistic ability, and the neuropsychological impairment associated with the linguistic deficit. The linguistic assessment was performed on story-telling. Three narratives were elicited with the help of a single-picture stimulus and two cartoon stories with six pictures each. A modified version of the Mental Deterioration Battery was used to assess selective cognitive performances. A series of t-tests indicated that all the macrolinguistic variables were significantly impaired in schizophrenic patients in at least one of the three story-tellings. Furthermore, the limited impairment found in microlinguistic abilities was influenced by macrolinguistic performance. Multivariate stepwise regression analyses suggested that reduced attention performances and deficit in executive functions were predictors of linguistic impairment. Language production in schizophrenia is impaired mainly at the macrolinguistic level of processing. It is disordered and filled with irrelevant pieces of information and derailments. Such erratic discourse may be linked to the inability to use pragmatic rules and to cognitive deficits involving factors such as attention, action planning, ordering and sequencing.
AB - Language disturbance is one of the main diagnostic features in schizophrenia and abnormalities of brain language areas have been consistently found in schizophrenic patients. The main aim of this study was to describe the impairment of micro and macrolinguistic abilities in a group of twenty-nine schizophrenic patients during the phase of illness stability compared to forty-eight healthy participants matched for age, gender and educational level. Microlinguistic abilities refer to lexical and morpho-syntactic skills, whereas macrolinguistic abilities relate to pragmatic and discourse level processing. Secondary aims were to detect the effect of macrolinguistic on microlinguistic ability, and the neuropsychological impairment associated with the linguistic deficit. The linguistic assessment was performed on story-telling. Three narratives were elicited with the help of a single-picture stimulus and two cartoon stories with six pictures each. A modified version of the Mental Deterioration Battery was used to assess selective cognitive performances. A series of t-tests indicated that all the macrolinguistic variables were significantly impaired in schizophrenic patients in at least one of the three story-tellings. Furthermore, the limited impairment found in microlinguistic abilities was influenced by macrolinguistic performance. Multivariate stepwise regression analyses suggested that reduced attention performances and deficit in executive functions were predictors of linguistic impairment. Language production in schizophrenia is impaired mainly at the macrolinguistic level of processing. It is disordered and filled with irrelevant pieces of information and derailments. Such erratic discourse may be linked to the inability to use pragmatic rules and to cognitive deficits involving factors such as attention, action planning, ordering and sequencing.
KW - Discourse analysis
KW - Language
KW - Schizophasia
KW - Schizophrenia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=52949119927&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=52949119927&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.schres.2008.07.011
DO - 10.1016/j.schres.2008.07.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 18768300
AN - SCOPUS:52949119927
VL - 105
SP - 144
EP - 155
JO - Schizophrenia Research
JF - Schizophrenia Research
SN - 0920-9964
IS - 1-3
ER -