Exceptionality of /s/: Evidence from Aphasia

This paper will look to aphasic speech production for insight on phonological properties of spoken language in general. Aphasia is a type of language deficit resulting from stroke, lesions, or other kinds of injury to speech processing areas of the brain. Its effects can devastate a person’s ability to interact with others through verbal communication. Although aphasic speech can seem nearly incoherent in severe cases, the errors produced carry a wealth of meaning about how language is produced. The particular point of interest in this paper, the /s/ consonant, has been highly scrutinized within the context of child language and second language acquisition, but less often as a focal point in aphasic error analysis. Borrowing from several studies investigating syllable structure and cluster treatment in aphasic speech, this study will attempt to determine a few generalizations in support of theories on the exceptionality of /s/. First, this paper will provide background information about various types of aphasias that differ according to symptoms and location of injury in the brain. It will then review some of the unique phonological properties of the /s/ phoneme. A sample of studies examining the /s/ consonant in developing child speech and second language acquisition will then be covered. This paper will then go on to review aphasic research that discusses syllable structure and the treatment of consonant clusters in aphasic speech, including what has been suggested of /s/ clusters. Finally, data inclusive of /s/ cluster tokens gathered from various aphasia analyses will be presented, accompanied by an examination of the findings in terms of the phonological properties /s/.