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Comprehension and production of verbs in aphasic speakersJonkers, Roel

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Chapter 5

Instrumentality and name relation with a noun

5.1. Introduction

Verbs clearly differ from nouns as far as the grammatical information that

is stored with them is concerned. In the previous chapter, it was shown

that this information plays an important role in the verb processing of

Broca’s aphasics. Verbs, however, also correspond to nouns when other

aspects of the verb are considered. Some obvious similarities between

verbs and nouns can be found with respect to meaning and phonological

form. Types of verbs exist that are explicitly connected to nouns in these

aspects. In the present chapter, the effect of meaning relation with a noun

and name relation with a noun on verb retrieval will be evaluated from the

perspective of the instrumentality of the verb.

Instrumental verbs are verbs referring to actions for which an instrument

(not being a body part) is required in order to perform the action. It is

assumed that this instrument is part of the conceptual representation of the

verb, as is illustrated by the following examples (example 1 is based on the

representation of the verb to clear as given by Jackendoff, 1990)1:

(1) to clean:

[CAUSE([ ]i,[INCH[NOT BE([SPOTS],[ONd[ ]j])]])]

(2) to polish:

[[CAUSE([ ]i,[INCH[NOT BE([SPOTS],[ONd[ ]j])]])([BY[instrumentRAG])]

1 In these examples i is the actor, j is the patient or theme; d denotes that a determiner isnecessary

104 Chapter 5

(3) to mop:

[CAUSE([ ]i,[INCH[NOT BE([SPOTS],[ONd[ ]j])]])([BY[instrumentMOP])]

The difference between the more generic verb to clean and the more

specific verbs to polish and to mop is the presence of an instrument in the

conceptual representation. This part of the conceptual representation is

necessary in order to activate the intended verb.

Instrumentality seems to be a universal aspect of verb representations. For

Bird’s Head Languages Hatam and Sougb (Reesink, to appear) and for

Algonquian Languages, such as Ojibwa (Rhodes, 1980), Kashaya Pomo

(Hinton, 1994), and Maliseet-Passamaquoddy (Leavitt, 1992), for example,

the instrumentality of verbs has also been described.2 The way

instrumentality is expressed, differs. Hatam and Sougb are morphologically

marked for instrumentality, as is demonstrated by the following examples,

taken from Reesink (to appear):

(4) Hatam: di-ba singau di-bi-digo nab

1s-use knife 1s-INS-cut.up pig

I use a knife to cut up the pig

(5) Sougb: d-eisan ketmei d-a-(e)txwa hwej

1s-uses knife 1s-INS-cut.up pig

I use a knife to cut up the pig

In Hatam, the instrument is expressed by the morpheme bi, whereas in

Sougb the initial vowel of the verb is changed (-ogot (hit) -> -agot (hit with

instrument). In these languages it is impossible to use a prepositional

phrase in order to express the instrument. The morphological similarities

with respect to instrumentality are remarkable because, although Hatam

2 I would like to thank Ger Reesink and Peter Bakker for drawing my attention to thesearticles.

Instrumentality and name relation with a noun 105

and Sougb are typologically very similar, the vocabularies of these

languages differ largely.

Instrumentality can be expressed morphologically in Algonquian

Languages too. In Kashaya Pomo, for example, instrumental prefixes are

used in order to show that an instrument is utilized (Hinton, 1994). The

prefix pha expresses that the action is performed with the end of a long object,

whereas phi or pi stands for with the side of a long object. (6) and (7) are

examples of verbs with both prefixes (examples taken from Hinton, 1994):

(6) phac’o’ to harpoon

(7) pithaw to beat with the side of a stick

Indo-European languages like English and Dutch do not verbalize

instrumentality morphologically. In contrast to Hatam, Sougb, and Kashaya

Pomo, a prepositional with-phrase can be used to verbalize the instrument

in these languages, as shown in the following examples.

(8) The man cleans the mirror with a rag

(9) The man cleans the floor with a mop

Another way to express instrumentality is to use an instrumental verb.

Examples (10) and (11) have almost the same meaning as (8) and (9).

(10) The man polishes the mirror

(11) The man mops the floor

The verbs to polish and to mop differ with respect to the presence of the

instrument in the phonological form of the verb. The verb to mop

incorporates the instrument phonologically, whereas this does not hold for

the verb to polish. Expressing the instrument in a prepositional phrase is

therefore still possible when to polish is used, as in (12), while it is odd

with the verb to mop, as in (13):

(12) The man polishes the mirror with a rag

106 Chapter 5

(13) The man mops the floor with a mop

Don (1993) assumes that Dutch verbs which have a phonologically

identical noun, are derived from these nouns. He furthermore states that

verb-forming derivations produce regular verbs. Indeed, of the 40

instrumental verbs used in the present study that are supposed to be

derived from the instruments, all except one are regularly inflected.3

If the instrumental verb is derived from the instrument, then there is an

evident phonological relation between the verb and the corresponding

instrument. The aphasics that participated in the present study showed a

better performance on noun retrieval than on verb retrieval. It is therefore

interesting to enquire, whether a relation in name between a noun and a

verb facilitates verb retrieval.

In an explorative study, Bastiaanse (1991) examined the retrieval of

instrumental verbs in isolation and sentence context. Although she focused

on an effect of name relation within the class of instrumental verbs, also

noninstrumental verbs were investigated. Two Broca’s aphasics and two

anomics were tested. An overview of the scores of the patients on action

naming and sentence construction was already given in chapter 1 (table

1.1.). For convenience, this table is depicted again on the next page.

The four patients showed a comparable performance on instrumental and

noninstrumental verbs in action naming, whereas in sentence construction

noninstrumental verbs were better preserved than instrumental verbs.

Bastiaanse, as mentioned, focused on name relation. The two Broca’s

aphasics and one of the anomics were worse in retrieving instrumental

verbs in isolation if there was a name relation with the instrument than if

no such relation existed. The opposite pattern occurred in sentence context.

The other anomic patient performed equally well on both types of verbs.

An error analysis revealed that the Broca’s aphasics showed a preference

3 It has to be noted, however, that almost all 120 verbs that were used in the present study areregularly inflected.


for verb-noun substitutions and semantic paraphasias, whereas the anomics

only produced semantic paraphasias.

Table 5.1.: Proportions of correct answers for the three types of

action naming sentence construction

-I +I-N +I+N -I +I-N +I+N(n=9) (n=6) (n=5) (n=5) (n=5) (n=5)

Broca 1 0.44 0.50 0.20 0.40 0.20 0.60Broca 2 0.66 0.83 0.40 0.60 0.40 0.60

anomic 1 0.56 0.67 0.60 0.80 0.60 0.60anomic 2 0.44 0.67 0.00 0.60 0.00 0.20

verbs in action naming and sentence construction by the patients

described by Bastiaanse (1991). (-I: noninstrumental, +I-N: non-

name-related instrumental, +I+N: name-related instrumental)

Bastiaanse explained these patterns using Levelt’s model of language

production (Levelt, 1989) by emanating from the underlying deficit in the

Broca’s aphasics and the anomics. The explanations were based on two

assumptions. The first assumption states that a picture of an instrumental

action activates both the verb and the noun (the instrument). The second

assumption is that name-related instrumental verbs and the corresponding

instruments are represented by one and the same lemma in the lexicon.

The pattern found in the Broca’s aphasics can be carried back to their

impairment in grammatical encoding. The fact that name-related verbs and

nouns only have one lemma is confusing for the Broca’s aphasics. The

disturbed grammatical encoder cannot choose between the verb and the

noun, leading to verb-noun substitutions. For non-name-related verbs two

lemmas are activated and no confusion arises. Activation of the wrong

lemma leads to semantic paraphasias.

In sentence construction, patients used a cue. They often produced a

sentence frame like ’he is V-ing’. This led to more correct reactions than on

108 Chapter 5

naming because if a noun was filled in at the place of the verb, the answer

is still correct. For non-name-related verbs, such a cue did not work,

making these verbs more difficult.

The anomic patient that showed an effect of verb type, was supposed to

suffer from a problem in retrieving the correct phonological form of the

verb. Anomics are able to choose between the verb and the noun when the

lemma of the name-related verb is to be retrieved (almost no verb-noun

substitutions occurred), but for these verbs, the verb and the instrument

share the lemma. If non-name related verbs are concerned, both the lemma

of the verb and the noun are activated. Coactivation of the lemma of the

instrument makes the verb form easier to retrieve because this lemma can

be used as a semantic cue. If this cue does not work, or if the wrong

instrument is activated, semantic paraphasias will occur. At sentence level,

coactivation of the instrument and sentence processing seems to require

too much energy, leading to a worse performance on these non-name-

related instrumental verbs in sentence context than in isolation.

Bastiaanse’s study was explorative, as only two Broca’s and two anomic

aphasics were tested. Furthermore, the number of items that was used was

rather small. Nevertheless, it may be concluded from her study that the

existence of a name relation between an instrumental verb and its

instrument may play a role in the two Broca’s aphasics and one of the

anomics. Name relation had a negative effect on verb retrieval in isolation

and a positive effect on verb retrieval in sentence context. Although

Bastiaanse did not consider the effect of instrumentality as such, the scores

for the noninstrumental verbs reveal that this factor had no effect on verb

retrieval at the word level, whereas at the sentence level noninstrumental

verbs were better preserved than instrumental verbs in all aphasics.

It is therefore hypothesized, based on the results of Bastiaanse (1991), that

in the present study in both types of aphasics verb retrieval will be

influenced by instrumentality at the sentence level in such a way that

instrumental verbs will be more difficult than noninstrumental verbs.

Furthermore, name-relation will play a negative role in verb finding at the

word level, whereas it will affect the scores positively at the sentence level.


5.2. The effect of instrumentality and name relation with a noun on

action naming

Methods

Three types of verbs were distinguished with respect to instrumentality and

name relation with a noun. A MANOVA analysis will be performed to

consider an overall effect of verb type. If an effect of verb type is found, a

post hoc analysis will be performed. To account for the effect of

instrumentality, noninstrumental verbs (like to stroke) will be compared to

instrumental verbs that are not related in name to the instrument (like to

grind). The latter verbs will be denoted to as instrumental verbs, if only the

factor instrumentality is accounted for.

The effect of name relation with a noun is considered by comparing

instrumental verbs that are not related in name with an instrument and

instrumental verbs that do have a name relation with the instrument (like

to saw). These verbs will be referred to as non-name-related verbs and name-

related verbs, if name relation is evaluated.

Individual subject scores with respect to the effect of instrumentality and

name relation with a noun are given in Appendix III.

Outliers

An outlier-analysis was done according to the method described in chapter

2. One Broca’s aphasic was excluded from the study on the basis of this

analysis. For the results, the data of 14 Broca’s aphasics and 17 anomics

was included.

Results

Group scores with respect to the factors instrumentality and name relation

with a noun are given in table 5.2. The scores are graphically depicted in

figure 5.1.

A MANOVA for repeated measurements was executed to measure the

effect of verb type within the different subject groups. The anomics’

performance in action naming was significantly influenced by the type of

verb (F(2,32)=21.03, p<0.001). No effect of verb type was found in the

110 Chapter 5

Broca’s aphasics and the controls (Broca’s aphasics: F(2,26)=1.31, p>0.05;

controls: F(2,28)=1.95, p>0.05).

Table 5.2.: Mean, range, and standard deviation (s.d.) of the action

Instrumentality

noninstrumental instrumental statistics

BROCA’S APHASICS (N=14)mean (range) 6.8 (2-16) 7.4 (3-15) n.s.s.d. 4.0 3.7

ANOMICS (N=17)mean (range) 7.2 (1-14) 10.0 (3-18)p<0.001s.d. 4.1 4.0

CONTROLS (N=15)mean (range) 17.8 (15-20) 18.2 (16-20) n.s.s.d. 1.5 1.2

Name relation with a noun

non-name-related name-relatedstatistics


ANOMICS (N=17)mean (range) 10.0 (3-18) 10.5 (4-18)p>0.05s.d. 4.0 4.7

CONTROLS (N=15)

naming scores with respect to instrumentality and name relation with a

noun. (n.s.: no overall effect of verb type: MANOVA: p>0.05)


Two post hoc analyses were performed on the results in action naming for

the anomics in order to evaluate, respectively, the roles of instrumentality

and name

Figure 5.1.: The subjects’ performance on the factors instrumentality

and name relation with a noun at the word level (inst. = instrumental)

relation with a noun. Instrumental verbs were significantly better preserved

than noninstrumental verbs (t(16)=5.33, p<0.001). No differences were

found between the instrumental verbs with or without a name relation to

the instrument (t(16)=0.86, p>0.05).

5.3. The effect of instrumentality and name relation with a noun on

sentence construction

112 Chapter 5

The scores of the different subject groups are given in table 5.3. considering

the effect of instrumentality and name relation on verb retrieval in sentence

context. A graphical representation of these scores is presented in figure

5.2.


Table 5.3.: Mean, range, and standard deviation (s.d.) of the sentence

Instrumentality

noninstrumental instrumental statistics


ANOMICS (N=17)mean (range) 9.8 (2-17) 9.8 (3-16) n.s.s.d. 4.7 4.4



non-name-related name-related


ANOMICS (N=17)mean (range) 9.8 (3-16) 10.2 (4-17) n.s.s.d. 4.4 4.6


construction scores with respect to instrumentality and name relation

with a noun. (n.s.: no overall effect of verb type: MANOVA: p>0.05)

A MANOVA for repeated measurements was performed to measure the

effect of verb type within the subject groups. No effect of verb type was

found in the three groups (Broca’s aphasics: F(2,26)=0.86, p>0.05; anomics:

F(2,32)=0.27, p>0.05; controls: F(2,28)=1.42, p>0.05).

114 Chapter 5

Figure 5.2.: The subjects’ performance on the factors instrumentality

and name relation at the sentence level (inst. = instrumental)

5.4. Action and object naming: the effect of verb type

The non-name related and name-related instruments that belonged to the

instrumental verbs which were tested in action naming, were used as the

target

in object naming. In this section, it will be investigated how these

instruments relate to the instrumental verbs, by comparing the scores for

action and object naming with respect to instrumentality and name relation

with a noun.

The results of action and object naming of the Broca’s aphasics and the

anomics considering the different types of verbs are given in table 5.4. The


scores of the Broca’s aphasics are graphically depicted in figure 5.3., those

of the anomics in figure 5.4.

116 Chapter 5

Table 5.4.: Mean, range, and standard deviation (s.d.) of the action

Noninstrumental verbs

action naming object namingstatisticsBROCA’S APHASICS (N=14)mean (range) 6.8 (2-16) 11.8 (6-19)p<0.001s.d. 4.0 3.2


Non-name-related instrumental verbs

action naming object naming statisticsBROCA’S APHASICS (N=14)mean (range) 7.4 (3-15) 11.4 (8-19)p<0.001s.d. 3.7 3.7


Name-related instrumental verbs

action naming object naming statisticsBROCA’S APHASICS (N=14)mean (range) 7.9 (3-16) 12.0 (7-18)p<0.01

and object naming scores with respect to instrumentality and name

relation with a noun

The three types of verbs were more difficult to retrieve than the nouns that

were matched to these verbs for the Broca’s aphasics (noninstrumental verbs:


t(13)=8.06, p<0.001; non-name-related instrumental verbs: t(13)=4.66, p<0.001;

name-related instrumental verbs: t(13)=3.89, p<0.01).

Figure 5.3.: The Broca’s aphasics’ performance on action and object

naming regarding instrumentality and name relation with a noun (inst.

= instrumental)

Action and object naming scores did not differ significantly in the anomics

as far as the difference between instrumental verbs and the name-related

instruments that belong to these verbs was concerned (t(16)=2.10, p>0.05).

The other two types of verbs were more problematic to retrieve than the

corresponding nouns (noninstrumental verbs: t(16)=11.57, p<0.001; non-name-

related instrumental verbs: t(16)=3.79, p<0.01).

118 Chapter 5

Figure 5.4.: The anomics’ performance on action and object naming

regarding instrumentality and name relation with a noun (inst. =

instrumental)

It must be noted that the comparable performance for verbs and nouns

with respect to the instrumental verbs and the name-related instruments in

the anomics is not only due to a higher score for these verbs as compared

to the other types of verbs, but also to a lower score for these instruments

as compared to the other nouns. It may be concluded, however, that in the

anomics, as far as instrumental verbs and the name-related instruments are

concerned, action and object naming was equally difficult.


5.5. Summary

No effect of verb type was found in action naming and sentence

construction with respect to instrumentality and name relation with a noun in

the Broca’s aphasics and in the controls. Furthermore, these aspects of the

verb did not play a role in the difference between the action and object

naming scores in the Broca’s aphasics. The three types of verbs that were

tested were more difficult to retrieve than the corresponding nouns.

Table 5.5. gives a summary of the results of the anomics that were

presented in this chapter.

Table 5.5.: Summary of the performance in action naming, sentence

instrumentality

action naminginstrumental verbs > noninstrumental verbs

sentence constructioninstrumental verbs = noninstrumental verbs

name relation with a noun

action namingnon-name-related verbs = name-related verbs

sentence constructionnon-name-related verbs = name-related verbs

action naming - object naming

noninstrumental verbs: action naming < object namingnon-name-related instrumental verbs: action naming < object namingname-related instrumental verbs: action naming = object naming

construction and object naming with respect to the factors

instrumentality and name relation with a noun in the anomics

120 Chapter 5

Verb retrieval in the anomics was influenced by instrumentality.

Instrumental verbs were better retrieved than noninstrumental verbs. This

difference was, however, only found at the word level.

Name relation with a noun did not play a role in action naming and sentence

construction. No differences were found between name-related and non-

name-related instrumental verbs. This factor, however, did affect the scores

of the anomics, when action and object naming were compared. They

showed comparable results for instrumental verbs and the corresponding

name-related instruments. A better performance for object naming than for

action naming was found for the other two types of verbs.

5.6. Discussion

The present chapter focused on the effect of instrumentality and name

relation with a noun on verb retrieval. In the introduction, it was

hypothesized, based on the results of Bastiaanse (1991), that the first factor

would play a role in verb retrieval at the sentence level and not at the

word level in Broca’s aphasics and anomics. The second factor would have

a negative effect on action naming and a positive effect on sentence

construction in both types of aphasics. The hypotheses on the influence of

both factors, however, were not supported by the data in the present

study. Only instrumentality affected verb retrieval, but merely in the

anomics and at the word level

In this section, it will be discussed why instrumentality played a role in

verb retrieval of the anomics and not of the Broca’s aphasics. Additionally,

it will be considered why this factor only had an effect at the word level in

the anomics.

Bastiaanse (1991) made the assumption that a picture of an instrumental

action activates both the verb and the noun. This means that an effect of

instrumentality might be retraced to the visual representation of an action.


There is an indication that this may not be the case, namely the absence of

an effect of instrumentality in both the controls and the Broca’s aphasics.

The two Broca’s aphasics presented by Bastiaanse profited from the

coactivation of a non-name-related instrument in naming instrumental

actions. If the Broca’s aphasics in the present study would have profited

from the coactivation of a noun, they would have shown a comparable

better performance for instrumental than for noninstrumental verbs. This

was not the case.

This still leaves the possibility open that only the anomics profited from

the visual information (e.g. the depiction of the instrument) in a picture.

Nevertheless, it has to be questioned if the depiction of the instrument is a

visual artefact. Instruments are assumed to be part of the conceptual

representation of the verb, as was described in the introduction. Therefore,

it is argued that an effect of instrumentality is not (only) due to the

depiction of an instrument in the picture.

Action naming

Anomics suffer from a lexical retrieval deficit, by definition. According to

Bastiaanse (1991), this deficit has to be assumed in the retrieval of

phonological forms from the lexicon (see also Jonkers, 1993; Jonkers, 1995

and Bastiaanse et al., 1996b). In terms of Levelt’s (1989) model, this means

that anomics are able to activate the lemma that corresponds to the

conceptual representation of a verb, but that they are unable to find the

correct phonological form that belongs to the verb.

The grammatical encoder of the anomics is supposed to work properly.

The retrieval of the lemmas of verbs is also undisturbed. Activation of the

phonological form corresponding to the lemma is, however, difficult for

the anomics. Instrumental verbs are better preserved than noninstrumental

verbs. It is argued that this is due to the coactivation of the instrument

during lemma retrieval.

The conceptual representation of an instrumental verb contains the

instrument. It is assumed that when lemma retrieval for the instrumental

verb starts, the lemma of the instrument is activated as well. If a sentence

122 Chapter 5

has to be produced, this is even necessary because based on the conceptual

representation, different sentences can be made. In example (14), the

conceptual representation of a sentence is given in which it is expressed

that someone is polishing a mirror:

(14) to polish:

[[CAUSE([MAN]i,[INCH[NOT BE([SPOTS],[ONd[MIRROR]j])]])

([BY [instrumentRAG])]

The grammatical encoder has to decide whether (15) or (16) is processed

on the basis of this conceptual information.

(15) the man polishes the mirror

(16) the man cleans the mirror with a rag

This means that based on the conceptual representation of (14) at least the

lemmas of to polish, to clean, and a rag are activated. It is assumed that in

action naming these lemmas are coactivated. This is also concluded from

the errors that are produced by the anomics in action naming. Semantic

paraphasias (like to clean instead of to polish) and circumlocutions (like

cleaning with a rag instead of to polish) were produced mostly.

Coactivation of the instrument is strengthened by the depiction of the

instrument in the picture. This coactivation plays its role if the

phonological form belonging to a lemma has to be retrieved. According to

the spreading activation theory (Dell, 1986), after a lemma has reached its

threshold in order to start activating the phonological form, it deactivates,

while other coactivated lemmas remain active. These coactivated lemmas

may activate the target lemma again. It is supposed that in the anomics,

the lemma of the verb deactivates too quickly in order to completely

activate the phonological form that corresponds to this lemma. If the

lemma of an instrumental verb is activated, the lemma of the instrument is

coactivated and this lemma helps to activate the lemma of the verb again,

creating a greater chance of finding the complete phonological form of the

verb. For noninstrumental verbs, like to descend, coactivation of a depicted


object (mountain) could also occur, but this is not helpful in the retrieval of

the verb, because the link between to descend and mountain is less clear

(you may descend a mountain, ski from a mountain, climb a mountain, etc.).

Coactivation of a noun that is less closely linked to the verb may, in cases

where the patients are unable to find the correct verb form, lead to

semantic paraphasias, such as to climb for to descend. Also, for the

instrumental verbs semantic paraphasias and circumlocutions are

produced, when the anomic is still unable to completely activate the form

of the target verb. These errors were already discussed above.

Sentence construction

The effect of instrumentality, found at the word level in anomia,

disappeared at the sentence level. This is mainly due to the fact that

noninstrumental verbs are better preserved at the sentence than at the

word level. For the instrumental verbs, comparable scores are found in

action naming and sentence construction. The fact that noninstrumental

verbs are better preserved at the sentence level indicates that retrieval of

the complete phonological verb form within a sentence context is easier for

the anomics than retrieval in isolation. This may be explained by the fact

that during sentence construction, the lemma of the verb has to stay active

in order to use the necessary syntactic information. If the lemma is active

longer, the chance that the complete phonological form can be found is

greater.

This assumption on verb form retrieval in sentence context does not

explain why instrumental verbs received comparable scores to

noninstrumental verbs at the sentence level. It was argued that the

instrument is part of the conceptual representation of the verb. Also at the

sentence level coactivation of the instrument takes place and this should

lead to a better performance for these verbs.

The following responses that were given by the anomics show that the

instrument is not only coactivated, but that is also lexicalized:

124 Chapter 5

(17) de man knipt de stof: dit is een persoon die een grote schaar

hanteert

the man cuts the cloth: this is a person who handles big scissors

(18) de man maait het gras: ...de zeis hij eh is met de zeis bezig

the man mows the gras: ...the scythe he er is busy with the scythe

Coactivation of the instrument did not result in the correct response in

these examples. The reactions that were given, however, are reasonable

reactions to the pictures that were presented to the patients. It is argued

that in these cases the anomics were unable to find the correct verb form.

As the lemma of the instrument was available, they tried to produce a

sentence with a comparable sense at an early stage, not waiting until the

verb form would be available. This means that either coactivation of an

instrument helps to find the phonological form of the verb, or it leads to

the activation of the phonological form of the instrument itself and the

production of a sentence in which this instrument is used. If this was done

at the word level, it had resulted in a circumlocution.

In conclusion, it is suggested that at the sentence level, a verb lemma is

active for a longer time, because the lemma information has to be used in

sentence construction and therefore the verb form may be easier to

retrieve. The performance for instrumental verbs is not better than for

noninstrumental verbs, although this might be expected from the results in

action naming, because the coactivation of an instrument may interfere

with the retrieval of the verb form, in particular when a sentence can be

produced with a comparable meaning as the target sentence, in which only

the instrument is used.

Broca’s aphasics did not profit from the coactivation of an instrument,

neither at the word nor at the sentence level, although the instruments

were better preserved in these patients than the corresponding verbs. In

chapter 4, it was suggested that the Broca’s aphasics had problems in the

grammatical encoding of lemma information, because of their syntactic


deficit. As instrumentality is not a syntactic factor, it is not surprising that

this factor did not play a role in the Broca’s aphasics. The Broca’s aphasics

do not have apparent problems in activating the phonological form of a

verb. When the correct lemma of the verb is retrieved then the

corresponding phonological form can also be found, making coactivation of

the instrument of less use in these patients.


No effect of name relation with a noun was found in the present study either

for the Broca’s aphasics, or for the anomics on the retrieval of instrumental

verbs. For the Broca’s aphasics this was not unexpected because name

relation with a noun plays a role in form retrieval and, as was argued

above, Broca’s aphasics are able to retrieve verb forms. The anomics,

however, were supposed to have problems in retrieving the complete

phonological form of the verb. Coactivation of the lemma of an instrument

is helpful for the anomics in order to find the correct verb form.

Consequently, it could be claimed that coactivation of name-related

instruments would even be of more help, because not only the lemma, but

also the form of these instruments is activated. It is, nevertheless, clear

from the results that coactivation of a name-related instrument is not

additionally helpful when compared to the non-name-related instruments

for the anomics.

Jonkers and Bastiaanse (1996a) described ten anomics, whose data was also

discussed in the present study. They found an overall effect of

instrumentality, but it was unclear at that time whether it was

instrumentality, name relation with a noun or a combination of these factors

which made verb retrieval easier.

It is evident from the present study that at least instrumentality is a relevant

factor. The role of name relation with a noun as such is less clear because the

scores are influenced by instrumentality. It is obvious that the name-related

instrumental verbs are better preserved than the noninstrumental verbs,

but this could be due to the instrumentality as such and not to the name

relation with a noun.

126 Chapter 5

There is, however, one patient in the group of anomics who revealed an

effect of name relation with a noun on action naming, whereas

instrumentality did not play a role in his performance. This patient, FL, is

described in Jonkers and Bastiaanse (1998). This case description

demonstrates that at least in some anomics name relation with a noun is an

aspect which deserves specific attention.

Name relation with a noun played a role in the performance of the anomics

when action and object naming were compared. Although the anomics

were worse in action than in object naming overall, this did not hold

where naming of instrumental verbs and their name-related instruments

was concerned. The implications of this result with respect to other studies

that have been conducted on action and object naming will be given in

chapter 6. Below it will be discussed why these comparable scores for

instrumental verbs and the name- related instruments may have been

found and why only the anomics and not the Broca’s aphasics revealed

this pattern.

It was claimed in the introduction, following Don (1993), that instrumental

verbs which are phonologically identical to the name of the instrument, are

derived from the name of the instrument. This means that in these cases

the verb and the noun share the phonological word form: only one form

has to be retrieved for either the verb or the noun. The phonological form

fiets (bike) for example, can be used to produce fietsen (to bike) or fiets (a

bike).

Bastiaanse (1991) assumed that instrumental verbs and the corresponding

name-related instruments share a lemma. Here it is suggested that these

verbs and nouns share the phonological form and not the lemma. At

lemma level, name relation with a noun does not play a role, and there is no

reason why an action and an object, although they are semantically related,

should have only one lemma.

This is of interest when the verb finding problems of the aphasics are

taken into account. The Broca’s aphasics have problems in processing

lemma information. Name relation with a noun does not play a role at

lemma level and therefore no differences are expected between action and


object naming for name-related and non-name-related words. The anomics

have problems in retrieving the complete verb form. One group of nouns,

the name-related instruments, share the phonological form with a group of

verbs, the name-related instrumental verbs. Therefore, comparable scores

are expected for these verbs and nouns in action and object naming, which

is confirmed by the data.

Future research on the effect of name relation with a noun could reveal more

on this topic. It would be interesting to find out whether (non-

instrumental) verbs that correspond in name to nouns, not being

instruments (like butter - to butter) are easier to retrieve than verbs without

such a name relation with a noun. Apart from these verbs, for which there

is still a semantic relation between the noun and the verb, it is also worth

studying verbs for which only a name relation and no semantic relation

with a noun exists (e.g. to book - a book). The results of such a study will

reveal more on the effect of name relation with a noun as such.

university of groningen comprehension and production of verbs … · 2016-03-05 · verbs clearly...

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