| Abstract: | The writing patterns of two adults diagnosed as having congenital neurological impairment were submitted to linguistic analysis. The written work of these persons was found to contain errors incompatible with those of undereducated native speakers of English but somewhat analogous to errors of aphasics: tense, plural, and possessive endings are absent; articles and prepositions are absent or are used incorrectly; subordinating words are absent or incorrectly used. Yet the oral performance of these persons was syntactically unremarkable. It seems, therefore, that congenital neurological damage can affect the written performance while leaving the oral performance comparatively intact. |
