The main objective of this study is to illustrate how adaptation to linguistic limitations takes place in a specific activity and is affected by factors pertaining to the social activity or the individuals. A man with aphasia is compared to an adult immigrant L2 learner. An argumentative role play was video-recorded, transcribed and analysed. Both subjects have a very limited vocabulary and produce short utterances. The L2 learner often uses words that are semantically related to the target word, while the subject with aphasia uses more general and vague words, like pronouns, in combination with adverbs and set phrases. Both subjects use gesturing as strategy, and it is suggested that the semantic specificity of words as well as gestures is important in determining the role of gesture. Apart from gesture, he L2 learner uses mainly simplification and appeal strategies, while the subject with aphasia uses mainly fluency and sociolinguistic strategies.