Collaborative turn-construction practices of people with primary progressive aphasia and their family conversation partners

Abstract

Background: Primary progressive aphasia describes a group of three rare language-led dementias: semantic, logopenic, and non-fluent. The small number of conversation analysis studies to date suggest that repair and turn-construction practices in primary progressive aphasia are similar to those seen in post-stroke aphasia. This study investigates the collaborative aspect of these practices between people with primary progressive aphasia and their conversation partners. Method: Conversation analysis was used to investigate collaboration in repair and turn-construction practices in 10-minute video recordings of natural conversation collected from two dyads, one with logopenic and one with mixed primary progressive aphasia. Results: This study demonstrates that people with primary progressive aphasia have a range of practices available to construct their turns, and that their conversation partners collaborate to co-construct talk. Discussion: Findings demonstrate that collaboration can support interaction or lead to further interactional trouble. Collaborative practices are important targets for speech and language therapy interventions.