Semantic-Pragmatic Dysfunctions and Syntactic Preservation in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Brief Analysis of Spontaneous Speech in Individuals with Moderate AD

Abstract

Alzheimer’s Disease (henceforth AD), the most common cause of dementia, is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by a gradual decline in mental faculties. Historically, attention has been focused almost exclusively on memory deficits. Although impairments in recall abilities are a hallmark of AD, a progressive language disruption is also present. Due to the delay in exploring language deterioration following widespread cognitive decline, systematic studies on the subject have only been carried out quite recently. Several investigations have stressed the importance of examining language abilities in the pre-symptomatic phase of the disease to allow for a timely detection of changes in cognition. However, language dysfunctions persist and worsen throughout the entire course of the disease. This study provides a detailed overview of the primary language disturbances arising from AD. Experimental data from multiple studies examining both oral and written productions, elicited and free, support the hypothesis of a dissociated dissolution of language components – in most cases, the apparent preservation of syntactic patterns and phonemic structure contrasts with the rapid disintegration of pragmatic and semantic-lexical abilities. In the last section, a handful of free conversations (from the Anchise Corpus) between healthcare professionals and Italian-speaking patients with moderate AD will be analysed. The aim of this research is to further explore evidence of semantic deterioration and syntactic maintenance at the moderate stage of the disease, when language impediments are exacerbated, building on the observations outlined in the first chapters.