Broca’s biases in modern aphasiology
Monica I. Norvik
Broca’s description of aphemia signals the emergence of aphasiology as a discipline. It also marks the beginning of a long tradition of studies of right-handed patients (“Nous parlons avec l’hémisphère gauche”) with lesions in the inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area) displaying production deficits (Broca’s aphasia) in their single, mainly Romance or, as years went by, Germanic language. In modern-day aphasiology, language crosses hemispheric boundaries, production is no longer confined to the l