LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 8 : 6 June 2008
ISSN 1930-2940
Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.

Normative and Clinical Data on the Kannada

Version of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB-K)

Shyamala K. Chengappa, Ph.D.

Ravi Kumar, M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar1
 Normative & Clinical Data on the Kannada Version of Western
Aphasia Battery (WAB-K)
Shyamala K. Chengappa, Ph.D.
Ravi Kumar, M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)

Abstract

The present study aimed to standardize the Kannada version of Western Aphasia Battery (hereinafter
K-WAB) and to present the normative data of normal individuals and patients with aphasia. The K-
WAB contains the same test contents and structure as the original WAB (Kertesz and Poole, 1974)
which is a commonly used assessment tool by Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) for aphasia. The
test is modified with the cultural and linguistic adaptations and the general test administration method
was maintained. The K-WAB was administered on 22 normal (16 males and 6 females) and 90
aphasics in the age range of 30 –70 years. The Aphasia Quotient (AQ) was evaluated for different
ages and gender groups. Based on the AQ., cut-off scores to optimally differentiate between the
normal and aphasic individuals were provided. The present study revealed that there was no
significant effect with respect to age and gender .But significant variation was found in normal and
different categories of aphasics within themselves in all parameters of WAB (AQ, Spont.speech,
repetition, comprehension, and naming). It is proved beyond doubt that WAB differentiates normal
and aphasic performance, finding support from the well established trend in literature. Finer details
however need to be studied in depth with larger data from our sample.

Keywords: Western Aphasia Battery, South Indian &Dravidian language of Kannada, Aphasia type.

Introduction

Human beings have the most elaborate, sophisticated, versatile and creative means of
communication, made possible by their complex neurophysiologic mechanism. Language is a
set of symbols and code, employed by human beings who are capable of making association
between essential arbitrary representations and events to express their thought, their wishes,
and their feelings.

Aphasia is defined as “ the loss or deterioration of verbal communication due to an acquired

lesion of the nervous system involving one or more aspects of the processes of
comprehending and producing verbal messages”(Basso & Cubelli, 1999). Related disorders
of articulation, reading and writing are usually included in the description of aphasia.
Furthermore, it is a multimodality disorder (Helm- Estabrooks & Holland, 1998).

A number of methods have been used to classify language deficits of language – impaired
groups. Goodglass and Kaplan (1972) outlined the major classification used for assessing
adults with aphasia which can be seen in Table 1.

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar2
 Table- 1: Classification of Aphasia (Goodglass & Kaplan, 1972)

SYNDROME Major Characteristics

Broca’s Aphasia Non-fluent aphasia, restricted vocabulary & grammar, articulation
affected well-preserved auditory comprehension.

Wernicke’s Aphasia Fluent aphasia, impaired auditory comprehension, paraphasic

speech & word-finding difficulty.

Anomia Severe word-finding problems, Fluent speech with few

paraphasias.

Global Aphasia Severe verbal comprehension deficit, vocabulary & grammar with
speech restricted to stereotyped utterances.

Conduction Aphasia Fluent Aphasia, sentence repetition selectively impaired in relation

to auditory comprehension.

Transcortical sensory Severe verbal comprehension deficit, near-normal or normal

Aphasia sentence repetition, impaired naming with paraphasias,
perseverations & little extended expressive language

Pure word deafness/ No verbal comprehension.

Verbal auditory
agnosia

Mixed non-fluent Non-fluent speech, moderate verbal comprehension problems but

Aphasia some expressive language.

Assessment is defined as an organized, goal-directed evaluation of the variety of cognitive,

linguistic and pragmatic components of language. Such an assessment is carried out to
determine each patient’s language strengths and weaknesses and the degree to which
language weaknesses can be modified (Chapey, 1994; Lahey, 1988). Ideally, it explores “the
nature of language impairment and indicates what aspects of language performance are most
appropriate for treatment” (Byng et al. 1990). The language assessment is actually, highly
structured observations based upon the use of bedside and screening assessment tools,
comprehensive aphasia battery, and/or tests of specific language functions.

There are several standardized and frequently used aphasia screening tests such as Acute
Aphasia Screening Test (Crary et al., 1989), Aphasia Language Performance Scales (Keenan
& Brassell, 1975), Aphasia Screening Test (Reitan, 1991) and Quick Assessment for Aphasia
(Tanner & Culbertson, 1999) but, in many instances, clinicians rely upon comprehensive

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar3
 aphasia batteries to provide for the major portion of their highly structured observations.
There are many comprehensive aphasia batteries, each of which is associated with particular
administration and interpretation strengths and weaknesses. Five tests commonly used in
both clinical and research settings in United States and Canada include the Minnesota test for
Differential Diagnosis of Aphasia (Schuell, 1965b), the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia
Examination (Goodglass & Kaplan, 1983), the Western Aphasia Battery (Kertesz, 1982), the
Aphasia Diagnostic Profiles (Helm-Estabrooks, 1992), and the Porch Index of
Communicative Ability (Porch, 1981).

The Western Aphasia Battery (Kertesz, 1982) is a close relative of Boston Diagnostic
Aphasia Examination (Goodglass & Kaplan, 1972) and it provides the diagnostic goals of
classifying aphasia subtypes and rating the severity of aphasic impairment. This test is
designed for clinical and research use, comprising of four language and three performance
domains. Syndrome classification is determined by the pattern of performances on the four
oral/language-domain subtests, assessing spontaneous speech, comprehension, repetition and
naming.

The WAB is designed to assess clinical aspects of language function in aphasic patients and
to provide the data needed to establish a prognosis for therapy. The procedure is based on the
neuro-anatomical model and the principle of modern neurolinguistics. The WAB comprises
eight (8) subtests namely spontaneous speech, auditory verbal comprehension, repetition,
naming, reading, writing, apraxia, constructional, visuo-spatial and calculation tasks. The
scoring system provides the following overall measures of severity: The Aphasia quotient
(A.Q) which comprises the Spontaneous speech(S), Auditory verbal Comprehension(C),
Repetition(R) and Naming(N) uses the oral portion of the language assessment and the
Cortical quotient (C.Q) which includes the Nonverbal scores on reading, writing, apraxia
and constructional tasks yield Performance quotient (P.Q)

C.Q. = A.Q. + P.Q.

A.Q. < 93.8 indicates Aphasia which is used in research studies (Kertesz, 1979). In normal
clients, A.Q. is considered as 98.4 (or) 99.6 (mean A.Q). Based on these four parameters:-
Spontaneous speech, comprehension, repetition and naming – types of aphasia are
recognized. They can be classified under Broca’s, Wernicke’s, Transcortical sensory (TCS),
Transcortical motor (TCM), conduction, Anomic, Isolation and Global aphasia.

Languages in contact, bilingualism/multilingualism, is an integral product of globalization

and social mobility. Definition ranges from a native - like competence in two languages to a
minimal proficiency in a second language, raising a number of theoretical and
methodological issues. India has been a multilingual country right from earliest times and
English bilingualism has become an integral part of India’s consciousness. Bloomfield,
(1933) defined bilingualism as “native-like control of two languages” whereas on the other
end Haugen,(1950) takes a lax view by observing that bilingualism begins when the speaker
of one language can produce complete meaningful utterances in the other language. Aphasia
in bilinguals can affect their languages equally or differentially. Bilingual aphasia has been a

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar4
 widely researched area as it provides insight into the brain functioning of a bilingual and
effect of the lesion on this functioning.

Need of the study

Although there are many tests that assess one or more aspects of language disturbances of
brain damaged aphasic individuals, the numbers that have been adequately standardized is
relatively few. WAB is one of the tests which are most frequently used in clinic for
assessment of aphasia and allied disorders. We are presently following Western norms and
no Indian norms are obtained so far.

Aim of the study

The present study aimed at obtaining norms for WAB in Kannada for monolingual
(Kannada) and bilingual (Kannada-English) population.

Different languages use different devices to mark certain features (e.g., word order, pre/post
positions, affixes, or a combination of these), the same underlying deficit may cause different
surface manifestations in different languages (Paradis, 1987). Therefore, it is essential for
clinicians and researchers to be aware of cross-linguistic symptoms, for at least three basic
reasons: (1) in the countries of the world where English is not a national language, patient
ought not to be diagnosed on the basis of data derived from English; (2) or even in the
countries where bilingualism and multilingualism is inherent as in India; (3) in order to
determine whether one of the languages of a bilingual or polyglot patient is recovered to a
greater or lesser extent than the other language(s), once one becomes aware that the same
underlying deficit may cause different manifestations in different languages, one must be
able to interpret the patient’s behavior pattern in terms of its significance for each language.

Aphasic groups in non-English population have to be studied for their language symptoms
/deficits and recovery patterns in each bi/multilingual combination in the Indian subcontinent
(Chengappa, 2001). It is well established now that language specific impairments and
recoveries take place as evidenced by growing literature on Agrammatism (Paradis, 1987).
Aphasic severity is mainly measured by Aphasia Quotient (AQ).

According to Shewan and Kertesz (1980), “the Aphasia Quotient (A.Q) is a functional
measure of severity of the spoken language deficit in aphasia.” Each individual subtest
contributes different percentage to the calculation of the A.Q. Information content; fluency
and repetition each contribute 20%. Object naming contributes 12%. Sequential commands
contribute 8%. Yes-No Questions and auditory word recognition each contribute 6%.Word
fluency contributes 4%. Finally, sentence completion and responsive speech each contribute
2%. These percentages demonstrate that the WAB aphasia quotient is weighted heavily
towards expressive tasks (80% of the A.Q.). Because the AQ is weighted heavily by scores
from expressive tasks, it might be interpreted predominantly to represent a patient’s
expressive language ability. This weightage questions about the relative contributions of the
various expressive tasks to the prediction of the AQ. Given that information content, fluency,

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar5
 and repetition scores contribute most to the calculation of the AQ, they might be expected to
be the best predictors of severity as measured by the AQ.

Kertesz, (1979) stated that the score for information content has the highest correlation with
the AQ; however, he presented no data to substantiate this claim. Thus, although the AQ is
presented as an index of the severity of aphasic impairment, the relationship between it and
the 10 individual subtests of the WAB have not been investigated.

Crary and Kertesz (1988) reported changes in expressive language errors in a patient who
was followed for 12 months with the WAB. Some patients, specifically those presenting
global or severe Broca aphasia, demonstrated changes in the type of expressive errors noted
on naming and repetition tasks in the absence of change in the AQ. Such results suggests that
patients’ communication abilities and/or the form of language errors may change over time
without change in the overall severity of aphasia as measured by a total score like the AQ.

Crary and Rothi (1989) reported that information content was the best predictor of the
severity of the aphasic impairment as measured by the AQ. The information content score
reflects several dimensions of a patient’ communicative abilities and contributes a high
percentage to the calculation of the Aphasia Quotient. Time postonset had no influence on
the relationships among the subtests or between the 10 subtests and AQ. Kertesz (1979)
suggested that the information content score represents a measure of functional
communication means that patient must possess some degree of both comprehension and
expression abilities to respond appropriately in the task.

From the above review, we can conclude that the language content and expressive ability of
an aphasic patient determines the severity of the problem. Thus, structure of the language and
the nature of the use of the language(s) by the native speakers are crucial in devising a test
material for assessment of any language disability, especially in the area of aphasia.

Few studies have been carried out in different languages other than English. Kim & Duk
(2004) studied the Normative Data on the Korean Version of the Western Aphasia Battery
which aimed to describe the properties of the Korean version of the Western Aphasia Battery
(hereinafter Kn-WAB) presented the data of normal individuals and patients. The Kn-WAB
contained the same test contents and structure as the original WAB and the general test
administration method was maintained. Kn-WAB was administered to 224 normal adults in
seven age groups (15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, and 75 years or older), in five
educational levels (0, 1-6, 7-9, 10-12, and 13 years or more) and by gender. The age and
educational levels were influential to the Kn-WAB performance. Accordingly, they formed
six subgroups of the normal: two age groups (15-74, and 75 years or older groups) by three
educational groups (0, 1-6, and 7 years or more). Two hundred thirty-eight patients were also
evaluated using the Kn-WAB. The highest aphasia quotient (AQ), language quotient (LQ),
and cortical quotient (CQ) were achieved by 15-74 age group with 7 or more years of
education (M=97.11, M=95.51, M=95.57, respectively).

Lomas and Kertesz (1978) reported that most aphasic patients demonstrated change in
communication abilities over time. However, in some patients the degree of change was

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar6
 similar across language performance areas, whereas in other patients changes in some areas
of performance were disproportionate to changes in others.

Bates et al. (1987) noted that grammatical morphology was preserved in Italian and German
speaking agrammatics. Miceli and Caramazza (1988) noted derivational errors while
repeating derived words; there were no errors while repeating nonderived words. Bates et al.
(1991) concluded that overuse of SVO word-order was noted only in languages that
permitted pragmatic word-order variations. It could be detected in rigid word-order
languages like English. The extent to which noncanonical word-order patterns were impaired
was dependent on the frequency with which these forms appeared in the normal language.
Comprehension seems preserved in sentences that can be understood without analysis of the
syntactic structure. For example, agrammatic patients tend to err by omission in English and
by substitution in richly inflected languages. As a result, English agrammatics appear much
more severely impaired than their non English speaking counterparts. These qualitative and
quantitative differences need to be further explored as already glimpsed in several Indian
Languages like Telugu (Usharani, 1998), Kannada (Rangamani, 1991), Tamil (Srividya,
1990), by Faroqui and Chengappa (1998), (Chengappa, 2001).

Even in the use of English, there are variations as to how it is spoken in different states of
India. So, one can think of having region-based English norms when studies in English are
done in India either singly or as a part of bilingual groups. While there may be similarities,
there could be variations too, across mono- and bilingual language
acquisition/learning/relearning in individuals with or without brain insult. These need to be
explored with the help of cross-linguistic studies (Chengappa, 2001).

Trudeau, Goulet, and Joanetta (1993) investigated the age difference between Broca's and
Wernicke's aphasics while achieving better control over potentially confounding variables.
The subjects (9 Broca's and 14 Wernicke's) were selected from a data base according to the
following selection criteria: aphasia type, handedness, localization of lesion and etiology.
The two groups revealed to be equivalent for sex distribution and schooling. Results showed
that the distribution of age between Broca’s and Wernicke’s group was significantly
different: there was a small representation of Broca's aphasics in older subjects while
Wernicke's aphasia occurred at all ages.

Bhatnagar, et al. (2002) examined the clinical profile of Hindi-speaking stroke patients with
aphasia from northern India. They studied the interactional effect between age and gender
with aphasia type in 97 Hindi-speaking right-handed individuals, the majority of them with a
confirmed diagnosis of a cerebrovascular accident also evaluating the interaction between
literacy and aphasia type since the subjects had varied education (total illiteracy to
professional/university education).The subjects included in the study ranged from 3 weeks to
two years post – onset with a diagnosis of a common classical aphasia (Broca’s, Wernicke’s,
anomic, global, conduction and trancortical ) types involving both males and females.
While the data reported about Hindi-speaking aphasics is relatively in agreement with the
age-aphasia type patterns discussed in western countries, some differences were also
observed. The mean age of Indian patients with aphasia was significantly lower. Also, in
addition to some gender and literacy related differences, an outstanding difference was that

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar7
 many clinical symptoms that are known to co-occur with aphasia were not readily reported
by subjects with stroke.

Method

The present study was a retrospective study which aimed to establish normative and clinical
data on the Kannada Version of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB-K). Ninety clients with
different types of aphasia (Broca’s/Anomic/Wernicke/Global) participated in the study.
Kannada Version of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB-K) was administered on aphasics as
well as 22 normal subjects in different age groups who were native speakers of Kannada with
or without the knowledge of English, Hindi or any other language. In order to review the
available records, the following criteria were used. The available clinical data was classified
on 4 categories of aphasia: (1) Broca’s aphasia (2) Anomic aphasia (3) Wernicke’s aphasia
and (4) Global aphasia

Criteria used for the selection of case records

• The cases who reported to AIISH with the history of loss of language due to brain
insult in the age range of 30-70 years, registered between 1st January 2003 to 31st
December 2006 were reviewed.
• Subjects of all the groups diagnosed as aphasia (of various types) by the neurologists
and speech language pathologists at AIISH were considered for the study.
• Each case file was separately analyzed for the demographic information like age,
gender, education (0 years, 1-6 years, and 7 years or more), although the latter was
not focused in the study. No associated disorders like dementia and other
psychological illnesses were found.

Kannada version of WAB was administered on 22 normal subjects who were native speakers
of Kannada and were also able to read and write Kannada. All these subjects also had formal
education in English. The scores (Aphasia Quotient, A.Q.) obtained by the subjects on WAB
and from aphasic case files (administered previously by SLP) were considered for
interpretation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Clinical data was a retrospective study involving 90 aphasics’ case files which were
reviewed during the period of 1st January 2003 to 31st December 2006. Modified version of
Kannada- WAB was also administered on twenty-two normal individuals who were
Kannada (a Dravidian language) native speakers in the age range of 30 – 70 years with
different educational background ( 0, 1-6years, and 7 years or more, although this was not
studied as a variable in this portion of the study).

In order to collect the data from the case files retrospectively, a data sheet was prepared in
SPSS 14.0 version in which all the variables were entered. A numerical value was assigned
to each variable for the presence or absence of the problem. The data was extracted from the
case files fed in this program. The following effects were analyzed:

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar8
 Effect of age, Clients/Subject groups and interaction between age and groups

The following table shows the performance of Clients/Subject groups across age and their
interaction.

Table 2: Mean and standard deviation of WAB-K with respect to age, clients/subject groups
in aphasics and normal:

Clients/ Age (in No. of Mean SD

Subject years) Subjects(N)
Groups
Normal 30-40 4 99.2000 1.3466
41-50 5 97.5600 2.1571
51-60 7 98.1286 1.5457
61-70 6 94.4667 6.1171
Total 22 97.1955 3.7352
Aphasics 30-40 18 27.5417 30.7056
41-50 38 30.4626 28.6230
51-60 16 46.2625 28.1559
61-70 18 35.4333 32.1747
Total 90 33.6814 29.8858

A Two-way ANOVA was carried out to check the effect of age, clients/subject groups and
interaction between age and client-groups. It shows that there was a significant difference
between client-groups in all parameters (AQ, Spont. speech, Comp., Repetition, and Naming
i.e. p< 0.001) and there was no significant difference between different ages (p>0.05) and no
significant interaction between ages and client-groups (p>0.05). The present study does not
find support from a similar previous study in the Indian context. Bhatnagar, et al. (2002)
found the mean age of Indian patients with aphasia was significantly lower. A bigger sample
and a further detailed different statistical analysis probably are necessitated for more
conclusive findings.

Effect of age within the groups

Separate analysis was carried out in normal subjects and aphasics to check the effect of age.
a. In Normal subjects, Kruskal-Wallis H –test was administered to check the
difference between different ages. Results indicated that there was no
significant differences between ages (p>0.05) in different parameters.

b. In Aphasics, One-Way ANOVA was administered to check the difference

between different ages. Results indicated that there was no significant
differences between ages (p>0.05) in different parameters.

Trudeau, Goulet, Joanetta (1993) investigated the age difference between Broca's and
Wernicke's aphasics while achieving better control over potentially confounding variables.

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar9
 The subjects (9 Broca's and 14 Wernicke's) were selected from a data base according to the
following selection criteria: aphasia type, handedness, localization of lesion and etiology
(first CVA). The two groups revealed to be equivalent for sex distribution and schooling;
post onset time was superior to three weeks for all subjects but one. Results showed that the
distribution of age between Broca’s and Wernicke’s group was significantly different: there
was a small representation of Broca's aphasia in older subjects while Wernicke's aphasia
occurred at all ages.

Kim & Duk (2004) in their Korean version of WAB also found that age to be one of the
influential variables in WAB performance but the current study did not find the same. One
possible reason could be that present study was a cross sectional study. AQ also didn’t alter
with respect to age.

Effect of gender within the client-groups:

Independent t-test was administered to check the difference between males and females in
normal subjects and aphasics. Results showed that no significant difference between males
and females in the different parameters (p>0.05) while the general overall male to female
ratio supported the notion of greater aphasic impediment in males than females.

Bhatnagar, et al. (2002) reported similar gender differences found in the aphasia (Broca’s,
Wernicke’s, anomic, global, conduction and transcortical) types which were more in males
than females.

Comparison of sub-categories of aphasics and normal subjects

From the above results, it is evident that there was no effect of age and gender on K-WAB
performance. The variable which is affecting the performance was grouping in sub-categories
of aphasia. The aphasic groups were further divided into four sub categories (Broca’s,
Anomic, Wernicke’s, and Global). These categories were compared within themselves and
with normal subjects in all parameters.

The table 3 shows the mean and SD of WAB-K performance of normal subjects and aphasics
for different parameters.

Table 3: Mean and Standard deviation of WAB-K performance in normal subjects and all
sub-categories of aphasics for different parameters:

Parameters Clients/Subject No. of Mean SD

groups Subjects(N)

Spont. speech Normal 22 19.5455 1.3707

Brocas 33 2.4242 3.4098
Anomic 19 16.0000 2.9439
Wernickes 12 10.0000 3.5162
Global 26 0.8077 1.3570
Total 112 8.5268 8.1018
Comprehension Normal 22 9.7295 0.4151

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar10
 Brocas 33 7.1758 1.7411
Anomic 19 9.1763 0.9214
Wernickes 12 4.8367 2.3342
Global 26 2.4048 1.3691
Total 112 6.6586 3.1044
Repetition Normal 22 9.4591 0.4827
Brocas 33 1.0333 1.8428
Anomic 19 8.7263 0.8818
Wernickes 12 3.3500 2.0002
Global 26 4.615 0.1174
Total 112 4.0125 4.1956
Naming Normal 22 9.8636 0.2060
Brocas 33 1.4758 2.5297
Anomic 19 7.3000 2.1406
Wernickes 12 2.9917 2.2769
Global 26 5.385 0.1860
Total 112 3.9438 4.1767
A.Q. Normal 22 97.1955 3.7352
Brocas 33 24.2333 14.7352
Anomic 19 82.3947 8.3252
Wernickes 12 41.1567 16.9939
Global 26 6.6250 3.9360
Total 112 46.1574 36.8953

One-way ANOVA was carried out to compare the normal subjects and different categories of
aphasics (Broca’s, Anomic, Wernicke’s and Global). It shows that there was a significant
difference between groups (p<0.001) in all parameters.

Duncan’s test was administered to check the pair wise differences. Results show that all the
client-groups (normal subjects and different categories of aphasics) are significantly different
from one another in AQ and naming (p< 0.001). In Comprehension and Repetition there is no
significant difference between anomic and normal subjects (p>0.05) whereas significant
difference exists in all other pairs (p< 0.001). In Spontaneous speech, there is no significant
difference between global and broca’s aphasia and other pairs are significantly different at
5% level of significance. This is in agreement with the major characteristics of the disorders
of global and Broca’s aphasia where the verbal output may be limited.

Normal subjects and aphasics were well differentiated by WAB scores in the current study.

The table 4 shows the mean scores on WAB-K for normal subjects and different aphasic
groups.

Table 4: Mean scores on WAB-K for normal subjects and different aphasic client-groups:

Subjects/Clients- A.Q. Spon. Repetition Naming

groups speech

97.20 19.50 9.50 9.86

Normal Subjects

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar11
 Anomic aphasics 82.40 16.00 8.70 7.30

Wernicke’s 41.20 10.00 3.40 2.99

aphasics
Broca’s aphasics 24.20 2.00 1.00 1.47
Global aphasics 6.60 0.80 0.05 0.54
It is evident
from table 4 that mean scores of AQ are highly variable. The normal subjects had higher AQ
while Global aphasics had the lowest AQ. In the descending order of AQ, the subjects/client-
groups can be placed as Normal subjects, Anomic, Brocas and Global aphasics.

These findings find support from all the previously listed studies of WAB, with respect to
different parameters. Comprehension ability also is commensurate with the previous findings
of the literature.

The table 5 shows the mean scores of Comprehension task on WAB-K for normal subjects
and different aphasic client-groups.

Table 5: Mean scores of Comprehension tasks on WAB-K for normal subjects and different
aphasic client-groups:

Subjects/Clients-groups Comprehension
Normal Subjects 9.73
Anomic aphasics 9.17
Broca’s aphasics 7.17
Wernicke’s aphasics 4.83
Global aphasics 2.40

It is evident from table 5 that normal subjects had higher scores on Comprehension tasks
while Wernicke’s and Global aphasics had the lowest scores. In the descending order of
Comprehension task, the subjects/client groups can be placed as Normal subjects, Anomic,
Brocas, Wernickes and Global aphasics.

Conclusions

The present study reports an ongoing attempt at Standardization of WAB in Kannada (WAB-
K) for South Indian monolingual Kannada and bilingual Kannada-English population. The
present study revealed that there was no significant effect with respect to age and gender but
significant effect was found in normal subjects and different categories of aphasics within
themselves for different parameters. It is proved beyond doubt that WAB differentiates
normal and aphasic performance, finding support from the well established trend in literature.
Finer details however need to be studied in depth with larger data than our sample.

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar12
 Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Dr. Vijayalakshmi Basavaraj, Director of All India India Institute of
Speech & Hearing, for allowing us to conduct the study. We also would like to thank all
participants in the present study.

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(Eds.), Handbook of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. East Sussex:
Psychology Press.

Bates, E., Friederici, A., and Wulfeck, B. (1987). Comprehension in aphasia: A cross
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Shyamala, K. Chengappa, Ph.D.

All India Institute of Speech & Hearing
Manasagangothri
Mysore-570006
India
[email protected]

Ravi Kumar, M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)

All India Institute of Speech & Hearing
Manasagangothri
Mysore-570006
India
[email protected]

Language in India 8 : 6 June 2008 Kannada Version of WAB S. K. Chengappa and Ravi Kumar15