Are word-final dysfluencies and palilalia similar phenomena?
Most of the word-final dysfluencies discussed here are clearly distinct from the dysfluencies of patients with palilalia. The term palilalia is derived from Greek, “pali”, meaning “again”, and “lali” meaning “speech”. It is used to refer to a set of speech patterns heard in adult neurogenic disorders, especially Parkinsonian disorders. In adults, palilalia is most often seen in patients with post encephalitic parkinsonism and with pseudobulbar palsy (Brain, 1961), but it has also been observed in Alzheimer s disease and mult-infarct dementia (Helm, 1979). Palilalia in adult neurogenic disorders has usually been described as multiple repetitions of a word or phrase, often with increasing rate and decreasing clarity or volume, often at the ends of words or utterances. Boller et al. (1973) provide a typical definition. Benke and Butterworth (2001) have presented evidence that palilalia can take a second form that is marked by repetition of utterances at a constant rate, alternating with s
