Exploring L1 and L2 Lexical Richness and Speech Fluency in Aphasic Azari and Persian Bilinguals

There is still controversy over the organization of the two languages in a single brain and the degree of similarities and differences in linguistic processing across the two languages in a bilingual brain. In the present study, the researchers aimed at comparing L1 and L2 lexical richness and speech fluency in aphasic bilinguals. Fifteen right-handed Bilingual (Azari: L1 – Persian: L2) female patients within the age range of 30 and 70 years who were diagnosed with a specific type of aphasia due to cerebrovascular accident and head trauma were selected for the study. Neurolinguistic assessments of the patients were done once at the time of onset of aphasia and also three weeks after the onset of aphasia with the use of Azari and Persian versions of the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT). The extent of damage to lexical systems and speech fluency in both L1 and L2 at the mentioned time points were compared for each individual. According to the results, different degrees of impairments and different patterns of recovery of L1 and L2 lexical system and speech fluency were observed in aphasic bilinguals. Indeed, most of the patients improved in the measured categories three weeks after the onset of aphasia. However, the difference was not statistically significant between L1 and L2 lexical richness and speech fluency in aphasic bilinguals (p>0.05). The results of the present study are probably in favor of the notion which advocates that bilinguals have differentiated linguistic systems. However, further larger studies are suggested.