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A Case of Foreign Accent Syndrome Resulting in Regional Dialect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2014

Raveeni Naidoo ,
Erin M. Warriner ,
Wieslaw J. Oczkowski ,
Alexandre Sévigny  and
Karin R. Humphreys
Raveeni Naidoo
Affiliation:
Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, Burlington
Erin M. Warriner
Affiliation:
Integrated Stroke Unit, Hamilton Health Sciences
Wieslaw J. Oczkowski
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Alexandre Sévigny
Affiliation:
Departments of Communication Studies & Multimedia - French, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Karin R. Humphreys
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Abstract

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Background:

Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is a rare acquired syndrome following neurological damage that results in articulatory distortions that are commonly perceived as a “foreign” accent. The nature of the underlying deficit of FAS remains controversial. We present the first reported Canadian case study of FAS following a stroke. We describe a stroke patient, RD, who suffered an acute infarction to the left internal capsule, basal ganglia and frontal corona radiata. She was diagnosed as having FAS without any persistent aphasic symptoms. Family, friends, and health care professionals similarly described her speech as sounding like she had a Canadian East Coast accent, a reported change from her native Southern Ontario accent.

Method:

An investigation of this case was pursued, incorporating neuroimaging, neuropsychological and speech pathology assessments, and formalized linguistic analyses.

Results:

Linguistic analyses confirmed that RD’s speech does in fact have salient aspects of Atlantic Canadian English in terms of both prosodic and segmental characteristics. However, her speech is not entirely consistent with an Atlantic Canadian English accent.

Interpretation:

The fact that RD’s speech is perceived as a regional variant of her native language, rather than the “generic foreign accent” of FAS described elsewhere, suggests that the perceived “foreignness” in FAS is not primarily due to dysfluencies which indicate a non-native speaker, but rather due to very subtle motor-planning deficits which give rise to systemic changes in specific phonological segments. This has implications for the role of the basal ganglia in speech production.

Résumé:

RÉSUMÉ: <span class='bold'> <span class='italic'>Contexte:</span></span>

Le syndrome de l’accent étranger (SAÉ) est un syndrome rare, acquis suite à une lésion neurologique qui provoque des distorsions de l’articulation communément pegues comme un accent « étranger ». La nature du déficit sous-jacent demeure controversée. Nous présentons le premier cas rapporté de SAÉ suite à un accident vasculaire cérébral. Le patient, RD, a subi un infarctus aigu de la capsule interne gauche, des noyaux gris centraux et de la couronne rayonnante frontale. Un diagnostic de SAÉ sans symptomes aphasiques persistants a été posé. Sa famille, ses amis et les professionnels de la santé décrivaient tous son accent comme un accent de la Cote est du Canada, ce qui représentait un changement par rapport à son accent d’origine du sud de l’Ontario.

<span class='bold'> <span class='italic'>Méthode:</span></span>

L’étude de ce cas comprend la neuroimagerie, des évaluations neuropsychologiques et orthophoniques et des analyses linguistiques.

<span class='bold'> <span class='italic'>Résultats:</span></span>

Les analyses linguistiques ont confirmé que le langage de RD présentait des caractéristiques marquées de l’anglais parlé dans les Provinces Atlantiques, tant en ce qui concerne les caractéristiques prosodiques que segmentales. Cependant, son langage n’est pas tout à fait semblable à l’accent anglais des Provinces Atlantiques.

<span class='bold'> <span class='italic'>Interprétation:</span></span>

Le fait que l’accent de RD est per9u comme une variante régionale de sa langue maternelle plutot que « l’accent étranger générique » du SAÉ décrit ailleurs suggère que l’aspect « étranger » per9u dans le SAÉ n’est pas dü principalement à des « dysfluences » qui indiquent que la personne qui parle est étrangère, mais bien à des déficits subtils de planification motrice qui donnent lieu à des changements systémiques de segments phonologiques spécifiques, ce qui met en cause le role des noyaux gris centraux dans la production du langage.

Type
Case Report
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 360 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © The Canadian Journal of Neurological 2008

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