Melice-Ledent S, Gainotti G, Messerli P, Tissot R
Rev Neurol (Paris). 1976 May;132(5):343-59.
Modern linguistics, like genetic psychology, postulate a non-linguistic basis for the structurisation of the semantic fields. If such is the case, it should be possible to observe in aphasia, where semantic deficiency predominates, a related disturbance in the semantic fields and logic. Paraxodically, such disturbances have been observed both in Broca's aphasia and in the predominantly semantic aphasia of Wernicke. A qualitative analysis shows that quantitatively identical results in the semantic aphasias of Broca and Wernicke are the result of phenomenological convergence. The related disturbance in the semantic fields and logic appears characteristic of the semantic deficiency which, in aphasic semiology, is marked by the substitution of one word for another. These finding support the theory of the relative autonomy of phonemic and semantic disorders in Wernicke's aphasia. They confirm the linguistic and genetic theory that the structure of vocabulatory is based on extralinguistic factors. They do not however provide an explantation for semantic disorders in aphasia. Further research is required to discover on what functional system articulation of the symbolic function and general operative capacity is based.
