The Classification of Parts of Speech for the Characterization of Aphasia

Abstract

Evidence from recent research suggests that aphasia patients may be distinguished, one from another, by assessing the extent to which their speech departs from normal in terms of frequencies of usage of words from various grammatical classes. A system is proposed for classifying words into distinct grammatical classes. The system is designed to provide ease of classification, for speech either from aphasic patients or normal speakers, and to entail consistent application of grammatical criteria. It lends itself to inclusion in a computer programme for processing English language texts. Some potential uses of the classification system are briefly noted.