A Short Report on the English Language Analysis of the Speech of a Nigerian Patient with Schizophrenia During a Medical Interview

Author Info

Oboh Stephen Omoigberale Oluyemi O. Akanni Deborah Omolara Akanni

Corresponding Author

Oluyemi O. Akanni
Department Of Clinical Services, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Uselu, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

A B S T R A C T

Language abnormalities are commonly associated with and diagnostic of a brain disorder like schizophrenia. Attempts have been made in the past to characterize the speech abnormalities in schizophrenia, but no known available research has been conducted in Nigeria where the English language is recognized as the official language. This study was designed to examine the discourse during a medical interview of a Nigerian patient with schizophrenia. A clinical interview between a schizophrenic patient and a doctor was carried out at the Mental Health Department of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. The conversation was tape-recorded, thereafter transcribed and analysed. The findings revealed syntax errors in turn-taking, mistakes in pronunciation, grammatical and phonological errors. The data confirms literature elsewhere and suggests a role for language analysis in the evaluation of persons with schizophrenia.

Article Info

Article Type

Short Report

Publication history

Received: Wed 27, May 2020
Accepted: Sat 20, Jun 2020
Published: Tue 30, Jun 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Oluyemi O. Akanni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.JCMCR.2020.02.03