SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCH
Background
After working for many years with language-impaired children and adults in both Greek and English, I realized that anomia (word-finding difficulties) is a particularly prominent clinical marker across conditions (and languages) evident in naming abilities and conversational skills of many individuals seeking my services. This spurred my interest in the field of lexical access and retrieval.
My subsequent research endeavors can be roughly divided into two stages: (i) From 2000 to 2003, I worked on lexical access particularly for verbs and nouns, in the two languages of bilingual individuals (Greek and English) who had suffered a stroke, which led to my PhD dissertation Verb and Noun Retrieval in Bilingual Greek–English Individuals with Anomic Aphasia. (ii) From 2004 onwards, I have independently carried out research on lexical access for verbs and nouns for different linguistic tasks (e.g., naming, sentence retrieval, connected speech), experiments I most often designed myself, and across different adult clinical groups including patients with focal lesions (e.g., aphasia) and non-focal brain injury (e.g., schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, primary progressive aphasia) as well as bilectal and multilingual children with typical language development and those diagnosed with a primary (SLI/PLI) or secondary developmental language disorder (such as autism spectrum disorder and various genetic syndromes).
Between 2009 and 2012, I extended my research expertise into the field of developmental language disorders, with a particular emphasis on Specific Language Impairment (SLI) brought upon by my relocation from Greece to Cyprus in 2009, where I have actively participated in research activities by the Cyprus Acquisition Team, such as the Gen-CHILD Project awarded by the University of Cyprus to Prof. Kleanthes K. Grohmann and two European research networks on the topic, COST Action A33 Cross-Linguistically Robust Stages of Children’s Linguistic Performance and COST Action IS0804 Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society. My role in the CAT Lab as clinical assessor and therapist has allowed me to collaborate with the research team from the University of Cyprus on wider-ranging investigations of language development, specifically first and second language acquisition of bilectal, multilingual, and monolingual children, adolescents, and adults residing largely in Cyprus (but also in Australia, Germany, Greece, and Russia, for example). We investigate vocabulary development, naming tasks, executive function tasks, clitics, sentence repetition, and a host of other tools for developmental language impairment (such as SLI or dyslexia), and genetically induced language disorders.
Research Activities (RA)
[RA1] Diagnostics and development of experimental linguistic measures: development of language assessment measures for (Cypriot) Greek and the development of tools to tap into the complex morphosyntax of Greek; [RA2] Aphasia & neurolinguistics: lexical access and breakdown, assessment, intervention in bi/multilingual speakers; [RA3] Neurorehabilitation: non-invasive brain stimulation methods and behavioral treatments; [RA4] Psycholinguistics: acquisition in typical, atypical, and impaired language development, first and second language, multilingualism as well as diglossia, minority languages, and dialects at large.
RA1. Diagnostics and experimental linguistic tools
I consider my primary area of expertise to lie in mapping behavioral language patterns across cognitive pathologies comparatively using specific linguistics tools that are culturally appropriate. My work so far has involved individuals with aphasia after stroke, the dementias, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, autism, specific language impairment, and genetic syndromes. I have set up a research agenda that involves developing and administering experimental linguistic tools through the study of disorders of the brain that affect language function (word level and connected speech). This area is reflected in my journal publications on the following topics:
- research on verb and noun lexical access using the Greek Object and Action Test (GOAT) or the Cypriot Object and Action Test (COAT);
- research on interpretation of noun-noun endocentric compound words using my own 2014 Greek Compound Word Test;
- research using the LITMUS-Sentence Repetition Test (Greek and or Cypriot Greek version);
- research using the LITMUS-MAIN (Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narration);
- cross-linguistic symptoms of language breakdown;
- issues related to language assessment adaptations of existing tools from English or Greek into Cypriot Greek
Main results: We have a developed a large data base of close to 1,000 individual participant files on language performance on our experimental linguistic tools and assessment measures. With regards to the assessment measures we are in the processing of mapping the results onto normal distribution curves to determine cut-off points and specificity and sensitivity of the measures. The aim is to provide speech-language therapists with valid and reliable tools for assessment/diagnostic purposes. The data from the experimental linguistic tools is important in order to describe the manifestations of developmental and acquired language impairments in a highly inflected and morphologically complex language, Greek, which is currently under-represented in the literature. For example, Nomiki Karpathiou (PhD student) is using the experimental tools to stage linguistic deficits in individuals with Primary Progressive Aphasia who are Greek speakers or bilingual speakers. Similarly, Manos Anyfantis (PhD student) is using the experimental tools to describe the language manifestations of Greek speakers with Parkinson’s Disease.
RA2. Aphasia and Neurolinguistics
In Cyprus, current figures reveal that on average 1,200–1,400 people suffer a stroke each year (Cyprus Ministry of Health report, 2016), yet the real number of people living with post-stroke disabilities is unknown—but using European data, we can estimate that it could be around 12,000 people. High-quality scientific evidence to guide effective treatment practices is limited within current resources in Cyprus.
Main results: We have a developed a large data base of around 300 individual patient files of adults with acquired language disorders because of stroke or other neurological conditions (Mild Cognitive Impairment, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, PPA, AD) from monolingual, bilectal, and multilingual backgrounds. I have been very active in disseminating the linguistic manifestations of acquired language deficits for Greek speakers, but I have also tackled topics around service delivery, and people with aphasia’s stroke narratives.
RA3. Neurorehabilitation
I was recently awarded funding from the national research agency (Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, €250,000) to carry out a randomized control trial on the effectiveness of treatment protocols using non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) methods (TMS) as an adjunctive therapy to SLT for language recovery after first-time stroke. The awarded project, with the acronym ASPIRE (Assessment of Post-Stroke Aphasia for Rehabilitation Research) involves recruiting first-time stroke survivors who are in the sub-acute (> 3 months) and chronic stage (> 6 months post-stroke) for NIBS and SLT research. Participants are assessed on comprehensive neuro-cognitive and linguistic batteries, molecular measures (genetic & blood biomarkers) and neuroimaging measures (brain volumetric, anatomical & functional connectivity measures) before and immediately after real or sham TMS treatment, and at six months follow-up post-treatment. This is the first-ever opportunity for funded stroke rehabilitation research in Cyprus.
RA4. Psycholinguistics
My more recent attempts are to contribute to the field of psycholinguistics, namely by carrying out research on typical, atypical, and impaired language acquisition and development in multilingual environments. I collaborate with language acquisitionists, linguists, developmental psychologists, and especially speech–language therapists/ pathologists to study and describe the first language acquisition of bilectal speakers, that is, speakers who grow up in sociolinguistically diglossic speech communities (predominantly in the Republic of Cyprus). Our natural focus lies on language development of Greek Cypriots whose two linguistic varieties, Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek—and arguably some lects in between, from basilectal rural Cypriot Greek to a more refined urban Cypriot (which has also been dubbed ‘pancyprian koiné’ or ‘Cypriot Standard Greek’)—are not only very close to one another but also quite different in many interesting ways.
Main Results: How does bilectalism stand to cognition in general, and executive functions in particular? Given that the so-called ‘bilingual advantage’ has been explored for a number of languages and populations, can we find something similar in bilectal individuals? The answer we can give after administering a large battery of tests on vocabulary, pragmatics, metaphors, working memory, and other, more specified tasks of executive control on monolingual children from Greece, bilectal children from Cyprus, and English–(Cypriot) Greek bi/multilingual children from Cyprus, bilectal children really seem to pattern in between: executive functions better than in monolingual, but not as strongly expressed as in multilingual children.
