ABSTRACT
We report the results of an investigation of the spoken word retrieval abilities of a
patient, BG, with proper name anomia. Our investigations reveal that she is impaired in
retrieving common nouns as well as proper names. Common noun retrieval was influenced
by age-of-acquisition, word familiarity and name agreement. Cued retrieval of proper names
was influenced by age-of-acquisition, although effects of other linguistic variables were not
excluded. It is claimed that an explanation in terms of a ‘continuum of word retrieval
difficulty’ rather than of proper names as ‘pure referring expressions’ can best account for
the findings. However, this proposal is unlikely to be able to explain all cases of proper
name anomia. Nonetheless, it is suggested that similar findings may be observed in other
people with proper name anomia, and that it is necessary for future studies to investigate
not only proper name but also common noun retrieval. We also provide evidence that
Plausible Phonology (Brennen, 1993) and Specificity (Brédart, 1993) hypotheses of proper
name anomia cannot account for BG’s naming abilities.
Key words: proper name anomia, proper names, common nouns, word retrieval disorder