It's a lovely word, palilalia. It could be a flower, the sort that is white, waxy, scented, and opens on warm moonlit nights; or it could be the romantically ailing heroine of a Greek myth.
Palilalia...
...or the title of a seventeenth century love poem.
Sadly, palilalia is none of those things. Palilalia is a language problem which forces the sufferer to repeat a word or phrase. It's like a stutter, but the repeated word or phrase will have more than one syllable.
It's sometimes part of Tourette's syndrome, and sometimes caused by a stroke. The repeated word or phrase will often be said louder and louder and faster and faster until in the end the sentence can go on to its end.
Palilalia rarely occurs when singing or reading out loud.
It must be a horrible condition to have; but I'm glad to think that people afflicted with palilalia can still sing.
Word To Think About Today: palilalia. The Greek word palin means again, and lalein means to babble or speak.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are very welcome, but please make them suitable for The Word Den's family audience.