Meaning & use
palilalia
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Meaning
noununcountable
A condition in which a person repeats their own words or phrases over and over, often faster each time.
Grammar: Used without an article in clinical writing: patients with palilalia.
Patterns
- palilalia in someone
- palilalia associated with something
The neurologist noted palilalia in the patient after his stroke.
Palilalia can appear alongside tic disorders such as Tourette syndrome.
Speech therapists described the child's palilalia in their report.
Common combinations
- symptom of palilalia
- Repeated phrases were a clear symptom of palilalia.
- palilalia in Parkinson's disease
- Palilalia in Parkinson's disease is relatively uncommon.
- diagnose palilalia
- Clinicians diagnose palilalia by listening to speech patterns.
- treat palilalia
- Therapy can help treat palilalia in some patients.
Synonyms and how they differ
- verbal perseveration
- Verbal perseveration is a broader clinical phrase for stuck repetition, while palilalia is the specific, speeding self-repetition.
- echolalia
- Echolalia repeats what other people have said, whereas palilalia repeats the speaker's own words.
Word family
- palilalic adjective
- relating to palilalia
- echolalia noun
- involuntary repeating of another person's words
- coprolalia noun
- involuntary swearing as a tic
- dyslalia noun
- impaired speech from physical problems
Commonly confused: palilalia or echolalia? palilalia or stuttering?
palilalia vs echolalia
Echolalia is repeating someone else's words; palilalia is repeating your own.
palilalia vs stuttering
Stuttering involves blocks or repeated sounds at the start of words, while palilalia repeats whole words or phrases, often speeding up.
Practice
A patient keeps repeating his own last phrase, faster each time. This is called ___.
Choose one answer.
Palilalia is self-repetition that often speeds up. Echolalia repeats other people's words, aphasia is language loss and dysarthria is slurred speech.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “palilalia”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.