Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T01:53:30.073Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Linguistics, Human Communication and Psychiatry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Philip Thomas*
Affiliation:
Academic Sub-Department of Psychiatry, North Wales Hospital
William Fraser
Affiliation:
Academic Sub-Department of Psychiatry, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff
*
Dr P. Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Psychological Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Ysbyty, Gwynedd LL57 2TW

Abstract

Background

Psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics have extended our understanding of the abnormal communication seen in psychosis, as well as that of people with autism and Asperger's syndrome. Psycholinguistics has the potential to increase the explanatory power of cognitive and neuropsychological approaches to psychosis and new methods of assessment and therapy are now being developed, based on linguistic theory.

Method

MEDLINE literature search was used.

Results

Of 205 relevant articles identified, 65 were selected for review.

Conclusions

Greater familiarity with linguistic theory could improve psychiatrists' assessment skills and their understanding of the relevance of human communication to the new cognitive models of psychosis.

Type
Review articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1994 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreasen, N. C. (1979) Thought, language, and communication disorders. (i) Clinical assessment, definition of terms and evaluation of their reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 13151321.Google Scholar
Austin, J. L. (1962) How to do Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Baltaxe, C. & Simmons, J. (1977) Language patterns of adolescent autistics. In Research to Practice: Proceedings of the IVth IASSMD (ed. Mittler, P.). Baltimore: UPP.Google Scholar
Baltaxe, C., D'Angiola, N., Simmons, J., et al (1992) Discourse cohesion in the verbal interaction of high functioning autistic individuals. Paper presented at IXth World Congress of I.A.S.S.M.D., August 1992, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Barr, W. B., Bilder, R. M., Goldberg, E., et al (1989) The neuropsychology of schizophrenic speech. Journal of Communication Disorders, 22, 327409.Google Scholar
Bender, L. & Faretra, G. (1987) Autism and pervasive developmental disorders: concepts and diagnostic issues. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 17, 159187.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. V. & Adams, C. (1989) Conversational characteristics of children with semantic pragmatic disorders II: what features lead to inappropriacy? British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 24, 241263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowler, D. M. (1992) Theory of mind and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 877895.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaika, E. (1974) A linguist looks at “schizophrenic” language. Brain and Language, 1, 257276.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Crow, T. J. (1993) Origins of psychosis and the evolution of human language and communication. In International Academy for Biomedical and Drug Research (eds Langer, S., Mendlewicz, J. & Racagni, G.), vol. 4, pp. 3961.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1985) The Psychology of Schizophrenia. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Deese, J. (1978) Thought into speech. American Scientist, 66, 314321.Google Scholar
Fine, J., Bartolucci, G., Ginsberg, G., et al (1991) The use of intonation to communicate in pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 771782.Google Scholar
Fraser, W. I., Grieve, R. & Agnew, J. (1977) The linguistic behaviour of the hydrocephalic adult. British Journal of Mental Subnormality, 24, 42.Google Scholar
Fraser, W. I., King, K. M., Thomas, P., et al (1986) The diagnosis of schizophrenia by language analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 275278.Google Scholar
Frith, C. D. (1992) The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Fromkin, V. A. (1975) A linguist looks at “Schizophrenic Language”. Brain and Language, 2, 498503.Google Scholar
George, M., Costa, D., Kourisk, , et al (1992) Cerebral blood flow abnormalities in adults with autism. Journal of Mental and Nervous Disease, 188, 413417.Google Scholar
Grice, H. P. (1975) Logic and conversation. In Syntax And Semantics 3; Speech Acts (eds Cole, P. & Morgan, J.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. & Hasan, R. (1975) Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Harvey, P. D. (1983) Speech competence in manic and schizophrenic psychosis: the association between clinically rated thought disorder and cohesion and reference performance. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 368377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, P. D., Earle-Boyer, E. A., Wielgus, M. S., et al (1986) Encoding, memory, and thought disorder in schizophrenia and mania. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 12, 252261.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. E. (1987) Verbal hallucinations and language production processes in schizophrenia. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 9, 503548.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. E., kirstein, L., Stopek, S., et al (1982) Apprehending schizophrenic discourse: a structural analysis of the listener's task. Brain and Language, 15, 207233.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. E., Hogben, G. L., Smith, H., et al (1985) Message disruptions during syntactic processing in schizophrenia. Journal of Communication Disorders, 18, 183202.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. E., Stopek, S. & Andreasen, N. C. (1986) A comparative study of manic versus schizophrenic speech disorganisation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 831838.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. E., & Sledge, W. (1988) An analysis of grammatical deviance occurring in spontaneous schizophrenic speech. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 3, 89101.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. E., & Satel, S. (1993) Language therapy for schizophrenic patients with persistent ‘voices$’. British Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 755758.Google Scholar
Hotchkiss, A. P. & Harvey, P. B. (1990) Effective destruction on communication failures in schizophrenic patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 513515.Google Scholar
King, K., Fraser, W. I., Thomas, P., et al (1991) Re-examination of language of psychotic subjects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 211215.Google Scholar
Lecours, A. R. & Vanier-clement, M. (1976) Schizophasia and jargonaphasia. A comparative description with comments on Chaika's and Fromkin's respective looks at “schizophrenic” language. Brain and Language, 3, 516565.Google Scholar
Leech, G. N. (1983) Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Leudar, I. (1991) Language and communication in mentally handicapped people. In Language and Communication in Mentally Handicapped People (eds Conti-Ramsden, G., Beveridge, M. & Leudar, I.), pp. 274299. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Leudar, I., Thomas, P. & Johnston, M. (1992) Self-repair in dialogues of schizophrenics: effects of hallucinations and negative symptoms. Brain and Language, 43, 487511.Google Scholar
Massel, H. K., Corregan, B. W., Liberman, R. P., et al (1991) Conversation skills training of thought disordered schizophrenic patients through attention focusing. Psychiatric Research, 38, 5161.Google Scholar
McEvoy, R. E., Rogers, S. J. & Pennington, B. F. (1993) Executive functions and social communication deficits in young autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 563579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGrath, J. (1991) Ordering thoughts on thought disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 307316.Google Scholar
Morice, R. (1986) Beyond language: speculations on pre-frontal cortex and schizophrenia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 20, 710.Google Scholar
Morice, R. & Ingram, J. C. L. (1982) Language analysis in schizophrenia: diagnostic implications. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 16, 1121.Google Scholar
Rapin, I. & Allen, D. (1983) Developmental language disorders: nosological considerations. In Neuropsychology of Language, Reading and Spelling (ed. Kirk, U.). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rochester, S. R. (1978) Are language disorders in acute schizophrenia actually information processing problems? Journal of Psychiatric Research, 14, 275283.Google Scholar
Rochester, S. R. & Martin, J. R. (1979) Crazy Talk: A Study of the Discourse of Schizophrenic Speakers. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Rourke, B. P. (1988) The syndrome of non-verbal learning disabled children: developmental manifestations of neurological disease. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 2, 293330.Google Scholar
Rutter, D. R. (1985) Language in schizophrenia. The structure of monologues and conversations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 399404.Google Scholar
Rutter, D. R. (1989) The reconstruction of schizophrenic speech. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 356359.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Schopler, E. (1987) Autism and pervasive developmental disorders: concepts and diagnostic issues. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 17, 159187.Google Scholar
Sack, H., Schegloff, E. A. & Jefferson, G. (1974) A simplest systematic for the organisation of turn-taking in conversation. Language, 50, 696735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1969) Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, S. (1982) Is there a schizophrenic language? Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 5, 579626.Google Scholar
Swartz, S. & Swartz, L. (1987) Talk about talk: metacommentary and context in the analysis of psychotic discourse. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 11, 395416.Google Scholar
Tantam, D. (1991) Asperger syndrome in adulthood. In Autism and Asperger Syndrome (ed. Frith, U.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, P., King, K. & Fraser, W. I. (1987) Positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and linguistic performance. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 76, 144151.Google Scholar
Thomas, P., King, K. & Fraser, W. I., et al (1991) Linguistic performance in schizophrenia: a comparison of acute and chronic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 204210.Google Scholar
Thomas, P., Leudar, I., Johnston, E. M., et al (1993) Syntactic processing in the written language output of first onset psychotics. Journal of Communication Disorders, 26, 209230.Google Scholar
Veillenave-Cremer, S., Kettner, M. & Krause, R. (1989) Verbal interaction of schizophrenic patients and their conversational partners. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie, Psychopathologie und Psychotherapie, 37, 401421.Google Scholar
Wielgus, M. S. & Harvey, P. D. (1988) Dichotic listening and recall in schizophrenia and mania. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 14, 689700.Google Scholar
Wykes, T. (1981) Can the psychiatrist learn from the psycholinguist? Detecting coherence in the disordered speech of manics and schizophrenics. Psychological Medicine, 11, 641642.Google Scholar
Wykes, T. & Leff, J. (1982) Disordered speech: differences between manics and schizophrenics. Brain and Language, 15, 117124.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.