Dysprosody

Dysprosody, which may manifest as pseudo-foreign accent syndrome, refers to a disorder in which one or more of the prosodic functions are either compromised or eliminated.[1]

Prosody refers to the variations in melody, intonation, pauses, stresses, intensity, vocal quality, and accents of speech.[2] As a result, prosody has a wide array of functions, including expression on linguistic, attitudinal, pragmatic, affective and personal levels of speech.[3] People diagnosed with dysprosody most commonly experience difficulties in pitch or timing control.[3] People diagnosed with the condition can comprehend language and vocalize what they intend to say, however, they are not able to control the way in which the words come out of their mouths. Since dysprosody is the rarest neurological speech disorder discovered [citation needed], not much is conclusively known or understood about the disorder. The most obvious expression of dysprosody is when a person starts speaking in an accent which is not their own. Speaking in a foreign accent is only one type of dysprosody, as the condition can also manifest itself in other ways, such as changes in pitch, volume, and rhythm of speech. It is still very unclear as to how damage to the brain causes the disruption of prosodic function. The only form of effective treatment developed for dysprosody is speech therapy.

  1. ^ Pietrosemoli, Lourdes; Mora, Elsa (April 11–13, 2002). Dysprosody in Three Patients with Vascular Cerebral Damage. Speech Prosody 2002. Aix-en-Provence, France. pp. 571–4.
  2. ^ Garrett, Kelly Davis; Lee, Christine; McMillan, Corey; Goldberg, Ariel; Chute, Douglas L.; Liberman, Mark; Grossman, Murray (February 2002). Comprehension of Emotional Prosody in Parkinson's Disease. International Neuropsychology Society Meeting. Toronto. Archived from the original on 2009-02-06.
  3. ^ a b Sidtis, John J.; Van Lancker Sidtis, Diana (2003). "A Neurobehavioral Approach to Dysprosody". Seminars in Speech and Language. 24 (2): 093–106. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.652.4365. doi:10.1055/s-2003-38901. PMID 12709883. S2CID 13560381.