Genre, verb, and coherence in picture‐elicited discourse of adults with aphasia

Background: Discourse coherence is derived, in part, from the relationship between and among words and sentences. In studies of aphasia, the relationship between discourse‐level and sentence‐level phenomena may be examined through the verb. In clinical picture elicitations of discourse, the nature of the pictures or the accompanying elicitation instructions may influence the discourse genre of the response (descriptive vs narrative), which in turn may place different linguistic demands (e.g., verb production demands) on the speaker with aphasia. This study is part of a larger project supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, grant number 1 R03 DC005151, and the Callier Center for Communication Disorders at the University of Texas at Dallas. My sincere thanks to the dedicated participant volunteers and to the organisations that have referred participants to date: Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation; Callier (Dallas) Aphasia Group; Community Partners Program (a collaborative programme of the University of Texas at Dallas and Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation); Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services – Division for Determination Services; Friendship West Baptist Church; HealthSouth Dallas Medical Center; HealthSouth Plano Medical Center; Methodist Dallas Medical Center; Mobility Foundation Stroke Center, UT Southwestern Medical School; North Texas Stroke Survivors (Patrick Boland); Parkland Hospital and Healthcare System; South Dallas Communication Groups Program (UTD Center for Brain Health) with St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Jubilee United Methodist Church, St. Paul AME, and St. Luke’s “Community” UMC; The Stroke Center – Dallas; the University of North Texas Speech and Hearing Center Adult Communication Therapy Program; and the University of Texas at Dallas, Communication and Learning Center. I acknowledge Beverly Richardson Moshay for her conscientious approach to interviews with participants; Alison Lee, Brooke Long, and Gretchen Melpolder for their careful attention to data transcription; and Jessica Donnaway for her contributions to the reliability analyses. Aims: This study explores aphasic speakers' partial construction of discourse coherence through relationships between and among action, background, and setting information carried largely by the verb, in picture‐elicited discourse productions of two different genres: descriptive and narrative. Methods & Procedures: Twelve individuals with aphasia of mild to moderate severity were presented with five pictures: two composite and three complex. Verbal discourse responses were elicited with common clinical instructions. For the three complex pictures, discourse was also elicited with instructions that explicitly requested temporal sequencing. Discourse genre (descriptive vs narrative) of each response was determined. Verbs within each response were categorised on dimensions of form (tense) and function (degree of association with storyline). Outcomes & Results: For common clinical elicitations, discourse genre was descriptive, verb tense was present and/or non‐finite, and verbs filled background and setting functions, regardless of picture type. For elicitations that requested temporal sequencing, participants produced more narrative discourse genre, and more past tense and storyline function on verbs. Exceptions to the group patterns are discussed and exemplified. Conclusions: The patterns of group results and the exceptions to these patterns provide insights into the relationship between the discourse and sentence levels, and the ability of individuals with aphasia to negotiate this relationship in their discourse productions. Findings also hold methodological implications for sampling discourse production among individuals with aphasia.