摘要：In this work we present a case of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), whose problems with verb syntax seem to support the idea of verbs as a closed class (Käyne, 2009). Previous works on PPA reported either a greater impairment for verbs than nouns，or no evidence of reduced verb production (Hillis et al.，2006; Graham, Patterson, Hodges, 2004). PPA patients are also reported to use a vocabulary that is less specific than normal speakers, with a larger use of light-verbs (Graham & Rochon, 2007). BB is a 59-year-old right-handed Italian woman with 17 years of education. Standard tests (BADA, AAT) showed no diflèrence in her production of nouns vs. verbs. A sample of her spontaneous speech of approximately 4,000 utterances shows that: (i) the progressive erosion of the lexicon left fiinctional verbs almost intact. BB had no hesitation with volitional, modal，and causative verbs, which we assume to occur in positions external to the verb phrase ([FPz[FPy[FPx[VP]]]]) (Cinque, 2004，Cardinaletti & Shlonsky, 2004). (ii) intransitive (unergative) and transitive verbs were quite systematically substituted by a “light-verb + N” form (e.g. “Ère una spiegazione” 一“ to do an explanation” instead of “spiegare” 一“ to explairr’). In conclusion，from a quantitative viewpoint，a diferent ratio of performance between fiinctional verbs (preserved) and lexical verbs (impaired) was detected. From a theoretical viewpoint, the feet that BB’s anomia selectively spares fiinctional verbs，including light verbs，and leads to the surfece’s retrieval of Hale & Keysets (2002) L-syntax could be considered as evidence that the noun-verb distinction may be understood as a consequence of antisymmetry: verbs may be seen as a closed class (all fiinctional, all light), while nouns are the only open class (Käyne, 2009). The immediate retrieval of a light verb would be forced by anomia: BB uses the otherwise silent light verb to which nouns incorporate.
