Jargon and Jargon Aphasia

Aphasia is a language impairment arising from acquired brain damage. Those affected have difficulty talking, reading, writing, and understanding speech. The most common cause of aphasia is stroke, which in most cases has occurred in the left hemisphere (or left side) of the brain. About one third of stroke survivors acquire aphasia.

Aphasia varies, depending on which part of the brain has been damaged. In many cases, speech is nonfluent, with frequent pauses as the person struggles to access or pronounce words. In jargon aphasia, the picture is different. Here speech is fluent and easily articulated. Indeed, some individuals show hyperfluency or a press of speech that is difficult to inhibit. Although plentiful, jargon speech is virtually incomprehensible, mainly because it is full of errors. People ...