Language Use of Patients With Schizophrenia: An Analysis of Sentential Negation

Abstract

Since the first descriptions of schizophrenia, language disturbances have been referred to as formal thought disorder (Boer et. al, 2020). Within this context in this study we analyzed sentential negation in the speech of the patients with schizophrenia to find out whether psychopathology and thought disorders of the patients affect the language use. 50 patients with schizophrenia and 50 healthy subjects were included into the study. The results showed negative and affirmative sentences used by the patients were significantly different from the control group. We hypothesized that psychopathology of the patients with schizophrenia plays a central role in language use. At the end of the study patients were concluded to reflect their negative thoughts in thier speech and use more negative sentences.