Towards an extended notion of Common Ground in Aphasiology

This article aims to analyze the evolution of the Common Ground notion in theoretical and sociocognitive fields. Some recent studies from psychology, cognitive sciences, and socio-linguistics have enriched the traditional formulations on CG by analyzing various factors related to the nature of mental processes. It emerged that CG is a dynamic entity where sources of different nature interact in a complex way during the communication process. On the other hand, contemporary clinical investigations on CG and aphasia seem to overlook the multiple and dynamic factors involved in the communication between patients and ordinary speakers. Although most experimental studies prove that any form of knowledge can, in principle, support communication with aphasic patients, it seems that they focus their attention only on an isolated aspect of the situational or past context. A general theory that explains how personal, cultural, or perceptual knowledge jointly mediates the understanding of texts produced by aphasic patients is missing. This work does not intend to offer such a theory. Instead, it has the less ambitious purpose of highlighting the current limitations related to the practice of breaking down and analyzing isolated features of the CG. Highlighting these limitations is essential in pushing aphasiology research towards introducing more complex models of CG adhering to the reality of the facts.