aphasia /əfā″zhə/ [Gk, a + phasis, not speech] , an abnormal neurological condition in which language function is disordered or absent because of an injury to certain areas of the cerebral cortex. The deficiency may be sensory aphasia, in which language is not understood, or motor aphasia, in which words cannot be formed or expressed. Aphasia may be complete or partial, affecting specific language functions. Most commonly, the condition is a mixture of incomplete sensory and motor aphasia. It may occur after severe head trauma, prolonged hypoxia, or cerebrovascular accident. It is sometimes transient, as when the swelling in the brain that follows aphrasia or injury subsides and language returns. Compare anomia, aphrasia. Kinds include Broca’s aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia. −aphasic, adj.
