Aphasia types manifest as which patterns?

• A. Broca’s non-fluent: halting speech with good comprehension; Wernicke’s fluent but nonsensical; Global aphasia: severe impairment; Document naming, repetition, comprehension, and fluency
• B. Wernicke’s fluent but nonsensical; Broca’s non-fluent with poor comprehension; Global aphasia: mild impairment; Document naming anyway
• C. Global aphasia: fluent speech but poor repetition; Broca’s able to paraphrase; Wernicke’s intact comprehension
• D. Broca’s fluent; Wernicke’s non-fluent; Global: reading impairment; Document reading

Answer: (A)

Aphasia patterns map to distinct language profiles across fluency, comprehension, repetition, and naming. Broca’s (non-fluent) aphasia presents with halting, effortful speech while comprehension is relatively preserved; repetition is typically impaired and naming is effortful as well. Wernicke’s (fluent) aphasia shows fluent speech that sounds normal in rate and rhythm but is often nonsensical or semantically empty, with poor comprehension and impaired repetition. Global aphasia involves widespread language impairment across all four areas: fluency, comprehension, repetition, and naming.

The correct option captures these classic patterns: Broca’s non-fluent with good comprehension; Wernicke’s fluent but nonsensical speech; Global with severe impairment across naming, repetition, comprehension, and fluency. The other choices mix up fluency and comprehension or misstate the severity of global aphasia, which is why they aren’t accurate representations.