Information-theoretical approach to the omission of functional categories in Broca’s aphasia

Abstract

This study is focusing on the omissions of two functional categories in the speech of Broca’s aphasics; articles and prepositions. For each selected functional element, the complexity can be calculated by using the Information Theory. The aim of this study is to find a connection between the complexity of the elements and their omission rate. Are more complex elements omitted the most? For the articles a very precarious tendency is found for 3 of the 12 subjects: More complex articles were omitted the most. For the prepositions only one subject showed that more complex prepositions were omitted more.