What is the main feature of Broca's aphasia?

Broca's aphasia, also known as non-fluent aphasia, is characterized primarily by effortful speech and agrammatism. Individuals with this type of aphasia typically have difficulty producing language, leading to speech that is halting and often comprised of short, incomplete phrases. Agrammatism refers to the omission of function words and the use of mainly content words in their speech, which results in a telegraphic quality.

In this condition, while comprehension is usually relatively preserved, the struggle to articulate thoughts makes verbal expression challenging. This highlights the distinction of Broca's aphasia, which contrasts with fluent aphasia types where individuals might speak with more typical fluency but have significant comprehension difficulties or inappropriate usage of language.

The presence of effortful speech and agrammatism is what primarily defines Broca's aphasia, making it easy to identify in clinical settings.