agrammatism (n.)

A term traditionally used in LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY, as part of the study of aphasia, referring to a type of SPEECH production characterized by TELEGRAPHIC SYNTACTIC structures, the loss of FUNCTION WORDS and INFLECTIONS, and a generally reduced grammatical range; also called agrammatic speech and noted especially in Broca’s (expressive) aphasia. There may also be problems of comprehension. The notion has come to attract research interest in NEUROLINGUISTICS and PSYCHOLINGUISTICS as part of the study of the way the brain processes language. A distinction was traditionally drawn between agrammatism (the omission of items) and paragrammatism (the deviant replacement of items), but as both types of symptoms are often found in the same patient, in varying degrees, the dichotomy is now felt to obscure rather than clarify the nature of the phenomenon. The terms are much more likely to be encountered in language pathology than in psycholinguistics.