‘Non-semantic’Aspects of Language in Semantic Dementia: As Normal as They’re Said to Be?

Abstract

This article describes a 52-month longitudinal study of a patient, ILJ, whose semantic profile fits the criteria for a classical case of semantic dementia (SD). As in all such cases, it was the semantic aspects of receptive and expressive language processing--essentially vocabulary--that were most dramatically affected. The novel observation from this study is ILJ's performance on a comprehensive language examination. Results from this assessment, even early in the course of his disease, are compatible with the hypothesis that phonological, morphological and/or syntactic aspects of language processing may be disrupted by their interaction with degraded information from the semantic system.