Over the past 25 years, Conversation Analysis (CA) has been extensively applied to the study of aphasia, particularly in English-speaking and European contexts. While these studies have provided valuable insights into how aphasia impacts everyday communication, several areas remain underexplored or debated. These include severe aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia, the presence of negative emotions in test question sequences, and particularly the differences between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and significant others (SOs) in managing aphasia. Moreover, research on aphasia in non-European languages, particularly Mandarin, is scarce. Existing studies on Mandarin have mainly focused on linguistic aspects, such as language production and comprehension, often isolated from social contexts, with little attention to the role of interlocutors in shaping communication.
This thesis employs CA to examine interactions involving six Mandarin-speaking individuals with aphasia in two settings: at home while communicating with their families, and in hospitals, where they converse with HCPs. It focuses on how aphasia shapes communication and how non-aphasic interlocutors, including SOs and HCPs, respond to these challenges in interaction.
The study reveals that people with severe aphasia frequently face difficulties in engaging in conversation due to inattentiveness. While they are physically present, they are often interactionally unresponsive, requiring non-aphasic interlocutors to engage their participation in most time. People with aphasia (PWA) also frequently experience negative emotions when struggling to answer test questions. People with Wernicke’s aphasia tend to produce jargon, perseverations, and press of speech in conversation, which can prolong sequences and make turn-taking more challenging for non-aphasic interlocutors. To address these issues, SOs and HCPs employ various practices in their interactions with PWA. Notably, their practices in managing aphasia differ. SOs, who tend to be face-threatening, prolong repair sequences and highlight the aphasia-related challenges with negative emotions. They also enter the PWA’s turn before it is completed, especially in response to the ‘press of speech’ produced by speakers with Wernicke’s aphasia. In contrast, HCPs follow neutral, professional practices. They minimize aphasia-related issues, prioritize sequence progressivity, and use acknowledgement tokens to gloss over problems. These practices are less face-threatening.
While contributing to existing knowledge on aphasia, this thesis is the first to examine the everyday conversations of Mandarin speakers with aphasia. By analyzing the interactional practices used by HCPs and SOs, this research provides practical insights—for example, helping HCPs understand what conversations involving PWA look like at home—which may inform therapeutic practices. These findings have broader implications for developing more effective and culturally adaptable interventions for speech-language therapy in China.
