从失语症患者的手势看手势和语言的关系

Relationship between Gesture and Language:Evidence from Aphasia

虽然手势和言语有极为密切的关系,但手势在语言系统中的角色一直没有得到广泛的认同。失语症患者的手势为研究这一问题提供了新的视角。本文回顾了针对失语症患者手势研究的主要成果,并总结了现有研究的争议。一类研究表明,失语症患者的手势会出现与言语平行的损伤,如手势的使用特点会因失语症的症状不同而出现差异化的表征。另有研究认为,失语症患者的手势不会出现损伤,而会对患者的言语有所代偿,如弥补言语中缺失的信息。也有研究持折中观点,认为手势的代偿事实上也存在一定的局限性。现有研究还发现,就其功能而言,患者的手势可辅助言语产出和提升交际效果。通过分析前人研究可推断,手势和言语既有同步性又有互补性,在紧密联系的同时可能又存在一定程度的分离。手势可承担重要的语言功能,或具有一定的语言潜质。本文最后分析了现有研究的局限性,并试对未来的研究方向做出展望。

Although gesture is closely related to speech,the role of gesture in the language system has not been widely recognized.Gestural behavior of aphasic speakers offers a new perspective on this problem.This article reviews the major findings and controversies from previous research on gesture in aphasia.Previous studies have shown that gesture made by aphasic speakers may degenerate in a parallel fashion with speech.For example,gesture often displays speech-like features in different types of aphasia,and the gestural deficits become more severe as the degree of aphasia increases.In contrast,some research argues that gesture may not be prone to aphasic disorders and can instead often compensate for speech deficits.For example,aphasic speakers may rely heavily on gesture,and gesture in aphasia contains more information than speech,which helps make up the speech loss.Still other research indicates that the compensatory function of gesture is limited and gesture is to some extent impaired.For example,aphasic speakers have difficulty using gesture flexibly and may recurrently produce gesture of certain types,and the functions of their gesture are relatively simple.Furthermore,speakers with different types of aphasia also vary in their ability to employ compensatory gesture.In terms of its functions,gesture plays a role in facilitating speech output and improving the effect of communication.Specifically,gesture may exert a positive effect in lexical retrieval,and aphasic speakers can enhance the comprehensibility of their utterances by accompanying words with gestures.This article argues that findings of previous research suggest simultaneity and complementarity shared by gesture and speech,and gesture and speech are closely related but may also be partly separated in production.Gesture can perform important linguistic functions in language disorders and may be more than paralinguistic features,and more specifically,gesture may possess some linguistic potential.Finally,this article analyzes the limitations of previous research and makes some suggestions for future work.