[Agrammatism and its symptoms]. / El agramatismo y su sintomatología.

INTRODUCTION: We present a review the issue of agrammatism in order to examine its symptoms, the regularity with which they are observed, and the proposals suggested within the framework of Cognitive Neuropsychology to account for them. DEVELOPMENT: First, we focus on the debate regarding the status of agrammatism as an aphasic category with both theoretical and clinical validity, presenting two confronted views. On the one hand, the view that argues against the category of agrammatism due the variable performance of agrammatic patients in linguistic tasks. On the other hand, we present the view of those authors who defend, despite the variability, the notion of agrammatism as an aphasic syndrome. In the second section of the paper, we discussed the different symptoms that, on the basis of the available evidence, have been associated to agrammatism and the proposed explanations. We start by discussing the symptoms that agrammatic patients present in language production; in particular, we highlight the following: a) problems related to grammatical morphemes; b) a reduced sentence length; c) a noun-verb dissociation, with a better performance with nouns; d) difficulties in sentence construction, and finally, e) alteration in word order. Then, we discuss the symptoms that agrammatic patients have shown in language comprehension. CONCLUSION: In general, on the basis of the different agrammatic symptoms we have discussed, we favour the view of agrammatism as multicomponential syndrome rather than unitary one, with deficits in both morpholexical and syntactic language components.

El agramatismo y su sintomatología / Agrammatism and its symptoms

Introducción. Se presenta una revisión sobre el agramatismo con el objetivo de examinar cuál es su sintomatología, la regularidad con la que se presenta y las explicaciones propuestas desde la neuropsicología cognitiva para dar cuenta de la misma. Desarrollo. En primer lugar, se expone el debate acerca del estado de agramatismo como categoría afásica con validez teórica y clínica, distinguiendo dos posturas enfrentadas: por un lado, la de quienes cuestionan la categoría clínica del agramatismo debido a la variabilidad que se observa en la ejecución de las tareas lingüísticas de los pacientes diagnosticados clínicamente como agramáticos; por otro lado, la postura de quienes defienden, a pesar de las posibles variaciones, la existencia del agramatismo como síndrome afásico. En la segunda sección se discuten los síntomas que, según los datos obtenidos hasta el momento, se han asociado con el agramatismo, así como las explicaciones propuestas. Se exponen primero los síntomas que se observan en la producción lingüística de estos pacientes. Entre ellos destacan: 1. Problemas relacionados con los morfemas gramaticales; 2. Una longitud media de emisión oracional reducida; 3. Una disociación entre nombre y verbo, con una mejor ejecución en los nombres; 4. Dificultades en la construcción de oraciones; y 5. Alteraciones en el orden de las palabras. A continuación, se tratan los síntomas que los pacientes considerados agramáticos manifiestan en el ámbito de la comprensión del lenguaje. Conclusión. En su conjunto, la revisión de los síntomas que se observan en el paciente agramático que hemos presentado en este artículo apoya una visión del agramatismo como síndrome multicomponencial más que como un síndrome unitario, y los componentes

Introduction. We present a review the issue of agrammatism in order to examine its symptoms, the regularity with which they are observed, and the proposals suggested within the framework of Cognitive Neuropsychology to account for them. Development. First, we focus on the debate regarding the status of agrammatism as an aphasic category with both theoretical and clinical validity, presenting two confronted views. On the one hand, the view that argues against the category of agrammatism due the variable performance of agrammatic patients in linguistic tasks. On the other hand, we present the view of those authors who defend, despite the variability, the notion of agrammatism as an aphasic syndrome. In the second section of the paper, we discussed the different symptoms that, on the basis of the available evidence, have been associated to agrammatism and the proposed explanations. We start by discussing the symptoms that agrammatic patients present in language production; in particular, we highlight the following: a) problems related to grammatical morphemes; b) a reduced sentence length; c) a noun-verb dissociation, with a better performance with nouns; d) difficulties in sentence construction, and finally, e) alteration in word order. Then, we discuss the symptoms that agrammatic patients have shown in language comprehension. Conclusion. In general, on the basis of the different agrammatic symptoms we have discussed, we favour the view of agrammatism as multicomponential syndrome rather than unitary one, with deficits in both morpholexical and syntactic language components