Aphasia and topic initiation in conversation: a case study. Issue 1 (19th October 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barnes, Scott E.; Candlin, Christopher N.; Ferguson, Alison
• Is Part Of: International journal of language & communication disorders. Volume 48:Issue 1(2013:Jan./Feb.)
• Page Start: 102
• Page End: 114
• Publication Date: 2012-10-19
• Subjects: Communicative disorders -- Periodicals; Speech therapy -- Periodicals; Speech disorders -- Periodicals; Language disorders -- Periodicals; 616.855
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00186.x
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-2822

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="jlcd186-sec-0010" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Aphasiologists often research, assess and treat linguistic impairment and its consequences for daily life separately. Studies that link the language used by people with aphasia to routine communicative activities may expand the linguistic forms treated as relevant for successful communication by people with aphasia. Previous research has suggested that initiating topics in conversation can be problematic for people with aphasia, but it has not been widely investigated.</p> </sec> <sec id="jlcd186-sec-0020" sec-type="section"> <title>Aims</title> <p>This paper uses Conversation Analysis to examine how a person with aphasia initiated topics in everyday conversation. It describes the utility of <italic>and</italic>‐prefacing for topic initiation.</p> </sec> <sec id="jlcd186-sec-0030" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods & Procedures</title> <p>A person with chronic aphasia ('Valerie') was recruited to participate and was video‐recorded speaking with four conversation partners. Approximately 3.5 h of recordings were collected, and transcribed according to conversation analytic conventions. Topic initiations in this data set were identified and analysed using conversation analytic procedures.</p> </sec> <sec id="jlcd186-sec-0040" sec-type="section"> <title>Outcomes & Results</title> <p>It was found that topic initiations often led to trouble, and that Valerie recurrently used <italic>and</italic>‐prefaced turns when initiating topics (e.g. <italic>and how was your turkey?</italic>). This paper argues that <italic>and</italic>‐prefacing was an advantageous method for initiating topics because it smoothed the conversational discontinuities that this action creates.</p> </sec> <sec id="jlcd186-sec-0050" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions & Implications</title> <p>These findings are consistent with previous observations about the hazardousness of topic initiation for people with aphasia. Valerie's use of <italic>and</italic>‐prefacing suggests that conjunctions and other turn prefaces may be useful for promoting successful communication by people with aphasia during everyday conversation. Future investigation should identify if and how other people with aphasia use turn prefacing when initiating topics, and whether this changes over time.</p> </sec> </abstract>