Toward a multi-modal and multi-level analysis of Chinese aphasic discourse

描述（由申请人提供）：本项目建议构建一个失语症患者（美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）列出的代表性不足的少数群体之一）的汉语话语产生语料库。该数据库将包括汉语失语症的独特语言学特征、汉语失语症言语的韵律特征以及因中风而患失语症的汉语使用者的非言语行为等信息。该语料库的建立将为失语症专家和临床医生对汉语习得性语言障碍相关理论和临床问题的研究提供必要的基础。本研究的总体目标是改善全球汉语失语症患者的评估和补救程序的规划，包括那些生活在北美的患者。这可以通过积极地与任何与患有后天语言障碍的汉语使用者合作的临床医生和研究人员分享该项目的主要成果来实现，即，标准化评估程序、多媒体数据库和多级编码系统。一个为期四年的调查项目，将在香港，一个城市的语言同质化的中国讲中文的社区，提出。在这个项目的第一阶段（12个月），将制定一个语言测试和语音样本提取的协议，这是语言和文化适合于中国人。本研究收集了180名母语为广东话的正常人的规范性数据。在第二阶段（15个月），180名以粤语为母语的失语症患者将接受测试。失语症语言样本，编码在国际公认的转录和标记系统，将作为汉语失语症的语言学研究的实证基础。计划第三阶段（21个月）将发展多模式及多层次的评估工具，以指导粤语失语症的诊断及介入计划。此外，本研究将对语言障碍者和正常人的数据进行统计分析，以探索一个新的分类系统，该系统考虑了粤语失语症叙事的言语和非言语行为。本研究建立的数据库将是亚洲语言中首个用于研究失语症的数据库。这在理论和临床上都具有重要意义。在理论方面，该项目将方便语言学家，心理学家，神经语言学家和相关专业人员或学者访问该数据库进行研究。中国的数据将允许跨语言的比较和丰富的理论概括中风后失语症。根据本研究中测量的多模态语言和非语言经验变量，还可以开发出对失语症说话者进行分类的新方法。在临床方面，这个数据库可以作为一个宝贵的资源，临床教育的言语和语言病理学家和相关的医疗保健专业人员。通过对失语症患者多模态语言和非语言行为的观察和分析，可以发展一种新的评估工具，用于分析粤语失语症的叙述和诊断失语症的类型。最后，本研究所提出的言语与非言语行为的多层次沟通测量方法，将可用于指导治疗设计、选择和优先治疗目标，以及系统地监测治疗效果和效率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current project proposes to construct a corpus of discourse production of Chinese speakers with aphasia, one of the underrepresented minority groups as listed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This database will encompass information on distinctive linguistic properties in Chinese aphasia, prosodic features of the Chinese aphasic speech, and non- verbal behaviors of Chinese speakers with aphasia as a result of stroke. The establishment of the corpus will provide the necessary foundation for aphasiologists and clinicians for research investigations into theoretical and clinical issues related to acquired language disorders in Chinese. The overarching goal of this study is to improve the planning of assessment and remediation procedures for Chinese speakers with aphasia worldwide, including those living in North America. This can be achieved by actively sharing the major deliverables of this project with any clinicians and researchers who work with Chinese speakers with acquired language deficits, i.e., a standardized assessment procedure, a multimedia database, and a multi-level coding system. A four-year investigative project that will be carried out in Hong Kong, a city with a linguistically homogenous Chinese-speaking community in China, is proposed. In Stage 1 of this project (12 months), a protocol for language testing and speech sample elicitation that is linguistically and culturally appropriate for Chinese speakers will be developed. Normative data from 180 native normal speakers in Cantonese will be collected. In Stage 2 (15 months), 180 native aphasic speakers in Cantonese will be tested. The aphasic language samples, coded in internationally-accepted transcription and tagging systems, will serve as an empirical basis for linguistic investigations of Chinese aphasiology. Stage 3 of the project (21 months) will involve development of a multi-modal and multi-level assessment tool for guiding diagnosis and intervention planning in Cantonese aphasia. In addition, statistical analyses of language-impaired and normative data will be carried out to explore a new classification system that considers verbal and non-verbal behaviors of aphasic narrative in Cantonese. The database that is constructed in the present proposed study will be the first of its kind in Asian languages for studying aphasia. It will be significant in the terms of both theoretical and clinical aspects. In terms of theoretical aspects, the project will facilitate linguists, psychologists, neuro-linguists, and related professionals or scholars to get access to this database for research purposes. The Chinese data will allow for cross-linguistic comparisons and enrich theory generalizations of post-stroke aphasia. With reference to the multi-modal linguistic and non-linguistic empirical variables measured in this study, new approaches to classify aphasic speakers can also be developed. In terms of clinical aspects, this database can serve as a valuable resource of clinical education for speech and language pathologists and related medical health-care professionals. The observation and analysis of multi-modal linguistic and non-linguistic behaviors in aphasia can lead to the development of a new assessment tool for analyzing aphasic narrative in Cantonese and diagnosing aphasia types. Finally, the multi-level communication measures of verbal and non-verbal behaviors proposed in this project will be available for guiding treatment design, selecting and prioritizing treatment targets, and monitoring treatment efficacy and efficiency systematically.