Paradoxical recovery of L2 in a bilingual aphasic person: addressing issues on causative factors and accent

Background: The pattern of language deficits and recovery in bilingual aphasia is variable. An uncommon and intriguing pattern of evolution is referred to as paradoxical recovery (PR) or switching, which refers to the resurgence of a language which a person with aphasia had barely used or not used at all before the brain injury in conjunction with a limited ability to speak in L1. There is no agreement about which causative factors are the most influential for PR and a detailed analysis on the status of accent in L2 has not been explored so far. Aims: In this study, we analysed verbal production in a successive bilingual illiterate right-handed woman (MASS) who, after suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the left temporo-frontal region, developed non-fluent aphasia in L1 (Spanish) together with a PR of a low proficient and not used L2 (Catalan). Methods & Procedure: A qualitative linguistic analysis of bilingual aphasia and a vowel acoustic analysis of verbal production were conducted in MASS. A perceptual test to examine her accent by native speakers was also performed. Outcomes & Results: PR in MASS was manifested by the release of a fluent anomic speech in L2 together with a marked reduction of speech production in L1. The circumstances in which L2 was learned included late acquisition, mostly by passive exposure, and low proficiency. Moreover, MASS displayed a negative attitude towards using L2 which may explain why phonetic analysis revealed a vowel system with values that were close to L1 (Spanish). In the perceptual test, bilingual judges identified the items presented as corresponding to a native Spanish-speaking woman. Conclusions: The circumstances of L2 acquisition in MASS may have contributed to its PR and the non-use of this language in everyday life could explain the persistence of native Spanish accent when she spoke using L2. The coexistence of a left hemisphere lesion, late acquisition, passive exposure, and low proficiency of L2 may have favoured the release of right hemisphere activity in linguistic control, thus accounting for PR and persistence of L1 accent.