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Language without communication: a case study*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Marion Blank ,
Myron Gessner  and
Anita Esposito
Marion Blank
Affiliation:
College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Medical School
Myron Gessner
Affiliation:
College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Medical School
Anita Esposito
Affiliation:
College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Medical School
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Abstract

Two branches of language functioning are now actively being studied: one focuses on language as a system for expressing syntactic-semantic relations, the other as a system of interpersonal communication. In this paper, a case is presented of a child who at 3; 3 showed a marked schism between these two areas. In the former domain he displayed behaviour that in most respects was age appropriate and relatively extensive. In the latter domain, he displayed almost totally ineffective functioning. His difficulties in the use of language for communication were mirrored from infancy by a serious failure either to understand or produce non-verbal communication (e.g. gestures). It is suggested that the structural and communicative aspects of language are based upon different sets of skills which particularly in cases of language disorder may function independently of one another.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1979 , pp. 329 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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