| Abstract: | In this study, we observed and linguistically analyzed the verbal behavior of six manic subjects, looking specifically for those linguistic capacities which were intact and for those which were disrupted. From interviews and tape-recordings of manic subjects in both analytic-protocol and discourse situations, we observed a preservation of basic speech capacities, including the ability to comprehend and generate grammatical sentences and to utilize highly complex linguistic transformations. We noted, however, a disruption in the ability to properly utilize ellipsis and semantic (discourse) anaphora such that manic subjects did not maintain a meaningful progression of thought in discourse. |
