Test for Assessment of Naming Ability: A Tool developed for a Tamil speaking population

Language is an active system consisting of a formulated set of rules which facilitate to express a person’s thoughts, views and ideas in a communication process. Nascence of language occurs during the interaction of cognitive, neuro - biological and environmental subsystems that come forth within a social context. Speech is a verbal mode of expression, that involves linkage and usage of words in a language for conveying a message to the communication partner(s) for further interaction and feedback. While fluent speech is an elaborate expression, naming task necessitates exact word retrieval and precise usage. Confrontation naming is a major task that focuses on single word expressions. Difficulty in this task reflects a deficit that is ascertained in conditions that include neuro - degenerative disorders, cognitive communication disorders and acquired language disorders. Inability to label precisely, leads to anomia and / or paraphasic errors. My research work focuses on the development of a test tool to assess the aforesaid naming ability in a Tamil speaking population, while also striving to explain the impact of factors like literacy, age and gender on this feature.