Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Palilalia
/ˌpælɪˈleɪliə/noun
The involuntary repetition of one's own words or phrases, often faster and quieter with each repeat.
The Greek roots
πάλιν
pálin
again, back
λαλιά
laliá
talk, chatter
Literally: “speaking again”
The story of the word
French neurologists working with post-encephalitic patients named the symptom early in the twentieth century, from πάλιν, again. The Greek λαλιά is ordinary chatter rather than formal speech, which is why the whole family of terms sounds slightly dismissive. The siblings divide the ground neatly: echolalia repeats what somebody else said, coprolalia supplies what nobody wanted said.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- early 20th century
Same family
echolaliacoprolaliapalindromeglossolalia
In a sentence
The palilalia showed up first as a habit of trailing off by repeating the last two words, quieter each time.
Palilalia is common in advanced Parkinson's disease.