Alalia, aphemia, and aphasia
V. W. Henderson
Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90033.
In the 1860s, vigorous debate followed Paul Broca's seminal aphasiological
observations. Scientific, philosophical, and personal disagreements
affected ensuing nosological disputes. Competing terms to designate
disorders of speech and language were alalia (used by Jacques Lordat),
aphemia (coined by Broca), and the ultimately triumphant aphasia
(introduced by Armand Trousseau). How these designations came into being,
how they were used, and how they were received by the scientific community
reflected controversies surrounding the birth of modern aphasiology.
