See also language; pronunciation; rhetoric and rhetorical devices; sound.
acyrology
1. an incorrectness in diction.
2. cacology. —acyrological, adj.
alogia
Medicine. an inability to speak, especially as the result of a brain lesion.
aphasia
Pathology. an impairment or loss of the faculty of understanding or using spoken or written language. — aphasiac, n. —aphasic, n., adj.
aphonia
loss of the power of speech; dumbness. — aphonic, —apho-nous, adj.
aphrasia
loss or absence of the power of speech.
biloquism
the ability to speak in two distinct voices. —biloquist, n.
cacology
1. a defectively produced speech.
2. socially unacceptable enunciation.
3. nonconformist pronunciation.
deafmutism
the condition of lacking both hearing and speech. Also called surdomutism. —deafmute, n.
dyslogia
Pathology. an inability to express ideas or reasoning in speech because of a mental disorder.
dysphasia
an impaired state of the power of speech or of the ability to comprehend language, caused by injury to the brain.
dysphemia
any neurotic disorder of speech; stammering.
dysphonia
speech problems resulting from damage to or malformation of the speech organs.
echolalia
the uncontrollable and immediate repetition of sounds and words heard from others. — echolalic, adj.
elocution
1. the art of public speaking.
2. the manner or quality of a person’s speech. —elocutionist, n.
galimatias
confused or unintelligible speech; gibberish.
glossograph
an instrument for recording the movements of the tongue during speech.
glossolalia
an ecstatic, usually unintelligible speech uttered in the worship services of any of several sects stressing emotionality and religious fervor. Also called speaking in tongues. —glossolalist, n.
glossophobia
an abnormal fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
gutturalism
a throaty manner of speaking.
hyperphasia
a condition in which control of the speech organs is lost, resulting in meaningless and deranged speech.
labialism
a tendency to articulate sounds with the lips rounded.
lalomania
an abnormal love of speech or talking.
lalopathology
the branch of medical science that studies disorders of speech. —lalopathy, n. —lalopathic, adj.
lalophobia
an abnormal fear of speaking.
logopedia, logopaedia
Pathology. the science that studies speech defects and their treatment. Also logopedics, logopaedics. —logopedie, logopaedic, adj.
mogilalia
a pathological speech problem, as stammering.
mutism
Psychiatry. a conscious or unconscious refusal to make verbal responses to questions, present in some mental disorders.
neolalia
any speech that contains new words unintelligible to a hearer. See also psychology.
obmutescence
Obsolete, loss of speech or the act of keeping silence.
paralalia
a speech defect or disorder in which sounds are distorted.
paralogia
a disorder of the faculty of reasoning, characterized by discon-nected and meaningless speech.
paraphasia
aphasia characterized by the inability to find the correct words to express meaning.
paraphrasia
garbled or incoherent speech, the result of aphasia.
pectoriloquy
speaking from the chest, a phenomenon observed with a stethoscope and caused by the voice reverberating in the lung cavities as a result of disease. —pectoriloquial, pectoriloquous, adj.
psellism
the condition of stuttering or stammering.
psittacism
a mechanical, repetitive, and usually meaningless speech.
surdomutism
deafmutism. —surdomute, n.
susurration
1. the act or process of whispering.
2. a whispering sound or soft rustling. Also susurrus. —susurrant, susurrous, adj.
tachyphrasia
an abnormality of speech characterized by extreme volubility.
tautophony
repetition of the same sound. —tautophonic, tautophonical, adj.
traulism
a stammering and stuttering speech.
ventrilocution
ventriloquism.
ventriloquism
the art or practice of speaking so that the voice seems not to come from the speaker but from another source, as from a mechanical doll. Also called ventriloquy, ventrilocution, gastriloquism. —ventriloquist, n. —ven-triloquistic, adj.
verbigeration
meaningless repetition of words and phrases.
