A longitudinal study of tense and aspect in the dementia of the Alzheimer type

This study aims to investigate any possible impairment related to the linguistic expression of tense and aspect by patients with the dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). Mainly, it aims to contribute to the understanding of the cognitive disruption underlying these eventual impairments. In order to achieve these aims, it was developed a case study of longitudinal nature. It was selected a DAT patient, who was submitted four times to two different evaluations: a neuropsychological evaluation and a linguistic evaluation. Impairments in the linguistic expression of tense and aspect were detected. The analysis of the results suggests that the impairments detected up to the third assessment may have been originated due to a disruption of the linguistic system or of non-linguistic systems. The decline in the linguistic expression of tense and aspect detected in the fourth assessment suggests a disruption of the linguistic system.