Comprehension and production of argument structures by Chinese post-stroke aphasics.

Abstract

This study examines whether increased argument number and syntactic movement increase difficulty in sentence comprehension and production in Chinese aphasic patients, as predicted by the Argument Structure Complexity Hypothesis (ASCH). Twenty-four stroke-induced aphasic patients (8 agrammatic, 16 non-agrammatic) and 18 controls completed comprehension and production tasks. In comprehension, three-argument sentences were most difficult, with no difference between one- and two-argument sentences. In production, two-argument sentences were produced more accurately than one- and three-argument sentences. Agrammatic patients showed no difference between one- and three-argument sentences, while non-agrammatic patients performed better on one- than three-argument sentences. Syntactic movement had no effect. These findings do not fully support the ASCH. The results may be explained by the frequent use of null arguments in Chinese, which reduces the processing burden associated with additional arguments of two-argument sentences, and the short-distance nature of A-movement in Chinese unaccusatives and their syntactic flexibility.