Affiliations: Cyprus Acquisition Team, Department of English
Studies, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus | Department of Neurology, Neuropsychology Section,
University of Patras Medical School, Patras, Greece | Department of Speech and Language Therapy,
Technological Educational Institute Patras, Patras, Greece
Note: [] Corresponding author: Maria Kambanaros, Cyprus Acquisition Team,
Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos, P.O. Box
20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus. Tel.: +357 22 89 51 94; Fax: +357 22 75 03 10;
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: We report the spoken and written naming of a bilingual speaker with
aphasia in two languages that differ in morphological complexity, orthographic
transparency and script Greek and English. AA presented with difficulties in
spoken picture naming together with preserved written picture naming for action
words in Greek. In English, AA showed similar performance across both tasks for
action and object words, i.e. difficulties retrieving action and object names
for both spoken and written naming. Our findings support the hypothesis that
cognitive processes used for spoken and written naming are independent
components of the language system and can be selectively impaired after brain
injury. In the case of bilingual speakers, such processes impact on both
languages. We conclude grammatical category is an organizing principle in
bilingual dysgraphia.
