echolalia

[prettygoodword]

echolalia - n., the immediate and involuntary repetition of words by others.


This can be a part of normal infant development, or it can be a symptom of autism or some types of schizophrenia. Stress on the third syllable. Coined in the 1880s from Greek roots, from echo + laliā, talk.

Comments

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Hmm - is there a word for the immediate and involuntary repetition of words by yourself?

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

There may be, but I don't know it.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful word. It's a word that generates the phenomenon it describes... sort of. I mean, it makes me want to repeat it...