Some Measures of Lexical Diversity in Aphasic and Normal Language Performance

Thirty-eight measures of lexical diversity are obtained (with the aid of a computer) from the free speech of 20 aphasic and 20 normal control subjects. After statistical analyses of significance and redundancy, 18 variables are retained for a later empirical derivation of types of aphasia. Eight of the variables are sufficiently significant to discriminate the aphasic group from the normal group.