Which description best characterizes Wernicke (receptive) aphasia?

• A. Fluent speech with good comprehension
• B. Nonfluent speech with poor comprehension
• C. Fluent but nonsensical speech with poor comprehension
• D. Nonfluent speech with good comprehension

Answer: (C)

Understanding how language deficits present helps distinguish receptive from expressive aphasia. In Wernicke's aphasia, speech flows normally in rate and rhythm, but the content is impaired because comprehension is severely reduced. Speech often contains jargon, semantic errors, and invented words, so it sounds fluent yet nonsensical to listeners. The person can speak smoothly but cannot grasp what is being said, and they may not recognize that their words don’t make sense. This pattern points to damage in Wernicke's area in the dominant hemisphere, which disrupts auditory comprehension while leaving the ability to form connected, fluent speech relatively intact. The other descriptions don’t fit: nonfluent speech with poor comprehension resembles more global aphasia, nonfluent speech with good comprehension points to Broca’s aphasia, and fluent speech with good comprehension would be typical of normal language or milder forms.