An analysis of complex sentence structures in patients with schizophrenia

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.