Echolalia

//ˌɛkoʊˈleɪliə// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The involuntary repetitive echoing of words or phrases spoken by another person; either immediate or delayed. countable, uncountable

    "Their echolalic responses may be much more extensive than the single words or short phrases that are characteristic of normal echolalia. Thus, a pseudoverbal autistic child may respond to "Do you want a cookie, Jimmy?" with a replication of the very same words."

  2. 2
    (psychiatry) mechanical and meaningless repetition of the words of another person (as in schizophrenia) wordnet
  3. 3
    An infant's repetitive imitation of vocal sounds spoken by another person, occurring naturally during childhood development. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    an infant's repetition of sounds uttered by others wordnet
  5. 5
    Any apparently meaningless, repetitious noises, especially voices. countable, uncountable

    "There was the boom of a bass drum, and the voice of the orchestra leader rang out suddenly above the echolalia of the garden."

Etymology

From echo- + -lalia; echo- ultimately from Ancient Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ, “reflected sound, echo”), -lalia from λαλιά (laliá, “talk, chat”).

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