Stability of a Measure of Lexica Diversity (D) in Narrative Discourse

Boyle, Mary (2013) Stability of a Measure of Lexica Diversity (D) in Narrative Discourse. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

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Abstract

Research into treatment for improving word retrieval ability in aphasia is increasingly focused on assessing outcomes at a discourse level. One of the challenges in this regard is choosing a measure to assess word retrieval in discourse. Some researchers (Fergadiotis & Wright, 2011; MacWhinney, Fromm, Forbes, & Holland, 2011; Rider, Wright, Marshall, & Page, 2008; Wright & Capiluto, 2009; Wright, Silverman, & Newhoff, 2003) have proposed using a measure of lexical diversity (D) as a proxy measure of word retrieval in aphasic discourse, reasoning that as word retrieval ability improves, a wider variety of words should be produced. Fegadiotis and Wright (2011) define lexical diversity as the range of vocabulary deployed in a discourse sample by a speaker, reflecting the speaker’s capacity to access and retrieve target words. D is a measure of lexical diversity that is robust to length variation, allowing comparison of discourses over time or between participants (MacWhinney et al., 2011).

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