An analysis of complex sentence structures in patients with schizophrenia
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Abstract
Patients with schizophrenia often display unusual language impairments and these abnormalities in language are among
the most extreme and obvious symptoms in Schizophrenia Disorder. In this context, this research attempts to analyze and
compare the schizophrenic patients’ and control group’s speech in terms of complex sentence structures. Fifty patients
with schizophrenia diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria have been includedd in the study and compared to fifty healthy
subjects matched for age, sex and education level with the patients. The subjects’ speech has been evaluated in four
stages. These are narration, story picture sequencing, semi-structured speech and free speech. The data consists of 8-10
minute recorded interviews. The recordings have been transcribed based on DuBois’ Discourse Transcription Symbols. The
statistical and linguistic analyses have shown significant differences between complex sentence types’ of patients with
schizophrenia and healthy subjects’. The findings have demonstrated that due to the possible cognitive problems the
speech produced by schizophrenia patients is syntactically less complex than that of controls. Additionally, patients with
schizophrenia use shorter and simple sentences instead of complex sentences compared to healthy subjects.
Keywords: schizophrenia, sentence structure, complex sentence, language disorder, thought disorder.
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