Innovations in language profiling
As empirical research yields new methods, we are interested in their potential to innovate clinical practice.
Usage-based approaches to impaired language:
Usage-based theories of language (such as Construction Grammar) have a strong focus on how often linguistic constructions occur, when they have been acquired, and to which purpose they are used. We incorporate this framework into our research on impaired language.
Projects:
Language and Mental Health - This AHRC-funded project compares verbal and non-verbal behaviour in people with schizophrenia and people with aphasia.
[Project started 2014; Project team: Prof. Wolfram Hinzen (PI), Prof. Nicol Ferrier (CI), Prof. Douglas Turkington (CI), Prof. Rosemary Varley (CI), Dr. Stuart Watson (CI), Derya Cokal, Felicity Deamer, Maggie Douglas, Gabriel Sevilla, Helen Spencer, Dr. Vitor Zimmerer]
Formulaic Language in Dementias - This project, funded by the Alzheimer's Society, with support from Celesio UK, investigates reliance on common expressions in people with dementia and its consequences for everyday communication.
[Project started 2017; Project team: Prof. Rosemary Varley (PI), Dr. Vitor Zimmerer (CI), Dr. Suzanne Beeke, Prof. Jason Warren]
+ Publications (click to expand)
Zimmerer, V., Tsoukala, A., Çokal, D., Sevilla, G., Douglas, M., Jones, W., Ferrier, I. N., Turkington, D., Watson, S., Varley, R., & Hinzen, W. (2026). The relationship between language disorder and thought disorder: Comparing micro- and macrostructure of spoken narratives of people with aphasia and people with schizophrenia. Cortex, 195, 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2025.12.006
Bello-Lepe, S., Mahmood, S., Varley, R., & Zimmerer, V. (2024). Speech pauses in speakers with and without aphasia: A usage-based approach. Cortex, 178, 287-298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2024.06.012
Varley, R., Cowell, P.E., Dyson, L., Inglis, L., Roper, A., Whiteside, S.P. (2016). Self-Administered Computer Therapy for Apraxia of Speech: Two-Period Randomized Control Trial with Crossover. Stroke, 47 (3), 822-828.
Zimmerer, V., Wibrow, M., Varley, R. (2016). Formulaic language in people with probable Alzheimer's Disease: a frequency-based approach. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 53, 1145-1160.
Zimmerer, V.C., Varley, R.A. (2015). A case of “order insensitivity”? Natural and artificial language processing in a man with primary progressive aphasia.. Cortex, 69, 212-219.
Zimmerer, V.C., Dabrowska, E., Romanowski, C.A.J., Blank, C., Varley, R.A. (2014). Preservation of passive constructions in a patient with primary progressive aphasia. Cortex, 50 (1), 7-18.
Zimmerer, V.C., Cowell, P.E., Varley, R.A. (2013). Artificial grammar learning in individuals with severe aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 53, 25-38.
Whiteside, S.P., Inglis, A.L., Dyson, L., Roper, A., Harbottle, A., Ryder, J., ...Varley, R.A. (2012). Error reduction therapy in reducing struggle and grope behaviours in apraxia of speech. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 22 (2), 267-294.