LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 8 : 6 June 2008
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.

HOME PAGE


AN APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

  • We seek your support to meet the expenses relating to the formatting of articles and books, maintaining and running the journal through hosting, correrspondences, etc.Please write to the Editor in his e-mail address mthirumalai@comcast.net to find out how you can support this journal.
  • Also please use the AMAZON link to buy your books. Even the smallest contribution will go a long way in supporting this journal. Thank you. Thirumalai, Editor.

In Association with Amazon.com



BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!


REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES


  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to mthirumalai@comcast.net.
  • Contributors from South Asia may send their articles to
    B. Mallikarjun,
    Central Institute of Indian Languages,
    Manasagangotri,
    Mysore 570006, India
    or e-mail to mallikarjun@ciil.stpmy.soft.net. PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.
  • Your articles and booklength reports should be written following the MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.
  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2007
M. S. Thirumalai


 
Web www.languageinindia.com

Normative & Clinical Data on the Kannada Version of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB-K)

Shyamala K. Chengappa, Ph.D.
Ravi Kumar, M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)


Abstract

The present study aimed to standardize the Kannada version of Western Aphasia Battery (hereinafter K-WAB) and to present the normative data of normal individuals and patients with aphasia. The K-WAB contains the same test contents and structure as the original WAB (Kertesz and Poole, 1974) which is a commonly used assessment tool by Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) for aphasia. The test is modified with the cultural and linguistic adaptations and the general test administration method was maintained. The K-WAB was administered on 22 normal (16 males and 6 females) and 90 aphasics in the age range of 30 -70 years. The Aphasia Quotient (AQ) was evaluated for different ages and gender groups. Based on the AQ., cut-off scores to optimally differentiate between the normal and aphasic individuals were provided. The present study revealed that there was no significant effect with respect to age and gender .But significant variation was found in normal and different categories of aphasics within themselves in all parameters of WAB (AQ, Spont.speech, repetition, comprehension, and naming). It is proved beyond doubt that WAB differentiates normal and aphasic performance, finding support from the well established trend in literature. Finer details however need to be studied in depth with larger data from our sample.

Keywords: Western Aphasia Battery, South Indian &Dravidian language of Kannada, Aphasia type.

Introduction

Human beings have the most elaborate, sophisticated, versatile and creative means of communication, made possible by their complex neurophysiologic mechanism. Language is a set of symbols and code, employed by human beings who are capable of making association between essential arbitrary representations and events to express their thought, their wishes, and their feelings.

Aphasia is defined as " the loss or deterioration of verbal communication due to an acquired lesion of the nervous system involving one or more aspects of the processes of comprehending and producing verbal messages"(Basso & Cubelli, 1999). Related disorders of articulation, reading and writing are usually included in the description of aphasia. Furthermore, it is a multimodality disorder (Helm- Estabrooks & Holland, 1998).

A number of methods have been used to classify language deficits of language - impaired groups. Goodglass and Kaplan (1972) outlined the major classification used for assessing adults with aphasia which can be seen in Table 1.

This is only the beginning part of the paper. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Status Marking in Tamil - A Ph.D. Dissertation | Normative & Clinical Data on the Kannada Version of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB-K) | Concerns of Faith - Inclusive Language: Will It Solve the Problems? | What is Necessary in Pre-planned Materials? | A Research Report on Engineering Students' Performance in English Language Speaking Test | Action Research: Innovations beyond Imposition in Foreign/Second Language Teaching | Names - Legal and Illegal: From Cadbury's to Rationing of Personal Names | HOME PAGE of June 2008 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR


Shyamala K. Chengappa, Ph.D.
All India Institute of Speech & Hearing
Manasagangothri
Mysore-570006
India
shyamalakc@yahoo.com

Ravi Kumar, M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)
All India Institute of Speech & Hearing
Manasagangothri
Mysore-570006
India
ravik979@yahoo.com
 
Web www.languageinindia.com
  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    mthirumalai@comcast.net.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknolwedged the work or works of others you either cited or used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian scholarship.