Referential choice in the narrative discourse of people with aphasia

Narration requires the appropriate use of reference, which can be particularly challenging in stories with many characters of the same gender, especially for people with language disorders. This study investigates referential choice in the narrative discourse of people with aphasia (PwA) and typical speakers (TS) by observing reference in general and depending on the potential ambiguity of the situation (characters of the same or different gender) and referential functions (introduction, maintenance, and reintroduction of characters). We found no group differences in the number of nouns and pronouns produced. However, PwA showed an overall tendency toward a higher pronoun-to-noun ratio in both situations with characters of the same or different gender. Both groups had a lower pronoun-to-noun ratio when introducing characters and a higher pronoun-to-noun ratio when maintaining characters, with TS having an even higher pronoun-to-noun ratio when referring to characters of different genders. Nevertheless, when reintroducing characters of the same gender, PwA had a higher pronoun-to-noun ratio, which led to ambiguous reference. These findings contribute to the limited research on referential choice in PwA, suggesting that PwA are sensitive to the characteristics of discourse but have a limited ability to consider listeners’ knowledge.