Pragmatic assessment of schizophrenic bilinguals' L1 and L2 use : a comparison of three assessment tools

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The term schizophrenia refers to a psychiatric condition which affects an individual'sthought and speech (Eaton and Chen 2006). The verbal expression of schizophrenics cantherefore be used as a tool for insight into the nature of schizophrenia as well as thecognitive processes of schizophrenics (Wróbel 1990:1). This thesis reports on acomparative evaluation of three pragmatic assessment tools, namely the PragmaticProtocol (Prutting and Kirchner 1987), the Profile of Communicative Appropriateness(Penn 1985), and the Framework for Assessing (Children's) Conversational Skills(Rumble 1988), in order to establish which of these tools is most suitable for assessingthe first language (L1) and second language (L2) pragmatic abilities of late bilingualschizophrenics. Four late bilingual schizophrenic patients participated in this study. Athirty minute informal interview was conducted with each of the participants in both theirL1 and L2 and the speech samples were transcribed and then analysed by means of eachof the pragmatic assessment tools. A careful examination of the results yielded by thethree assessment tools, showed, firstly, that when presenting the results of a pragmaticassessment of schizophrenic speech, it is crucial that both quantitative and qualitativeinformation be included: if the latter is excluded, a significant amount of information ishidden from the clinicians and/or linguists doing the assessment, as well as the people towhom they report their findings. Secondly, with respect to the characteristics ofschizophrenic speech, the three instruments used in this study show that whereas most ofthe aspects of schizophrenics' linguistic abilities seem intact, their pragmatic skills aredefinitely impaired. Thirdly, regarding differential symptomatology in bilingualschizophrenics, this study concludes that none of the three assessment tools contributes toa better understanding of this phenomenon, and that, in fact, it is highly unlikely that anypragmatic assessment tool would be able to capture this phenomenon. Finally, it isrecommended that clinicians assess bilingual patients in both languages, wheneverpossible, in order to determine the full range of symptoms experienced by the patient, togain a better indication of the severity of the illness and to track the progress of theillness.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University