Agrammatic Grammar investigates syntactic constraints on the realization of determiners, pronouns and finiteness in agrammatic speech. The main conclusion is that utterances of agrammatic patients comply with the normal grammar.
The book first determines the functional structure of the nominal and verbal domain in Dutch and investigates the contexts which allow for omission of determiners, pronouns and finiteness. Detailed descriptions of the realization of nominal and verbal structures in the speech of agrammatic patients follow. It is argued that determiner and pronoun omission in agrammatic speech are instances of normal Topic Drop and Determiner Drop. Omission of finiteness is interpreted as the underspecification of the Tense projection. All types of omission involve an empty element in a functional head position which is interpreted in the discourse. The analysis implies full functional structures and contradicts a truncation hypothesis. Chapters on language recovery in both the nominal and verbal domain are added. The final part of the book deals with the interaction between the nominal and verbal domain. It is demonstrated that the nominal and verbal domain can be selectively affected in agrammatic speech.
Throughout the book, agrammatic speech is not only compared to normal speech and speech of Wernicke patients but also child language. The book is of interest to both theoretical linguists and researchers in patholinguistics and psycholinguistics.
