Repetitive verbal behaviour: Functional and neurological considerations

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Abstract
Neurolinguistic, neurological and pathoanatomical data concerning the conditions of production of various forms of repetitive verbal behaviour (echolalia, palilalia, perseveration, recurring utterances, stereotypy, speech automatisms, speech tics) are reviewed. The neurological findings indicate that non-meaningful recurring utterances/automatisms, palilalia, tics and, possibly, acquired stuttering are symptoms of basal ganglia dysfunction. Echolalia seems to be related to dysfunction of the frontal lobe system. Production of verbal stereotypies and emotionally charged real word recurring utterances is viewed to indicate the activity of right hemisphere language mechanisms. The neurolinguistic data suggest that echolalia is generated quite high in the linguistic processes of formulation, non-meaningful recurring utterances close to the bottom of the formulation apparatus and palilalia downstream. Verbal perseveration remains an elusive symptom, both neurologically and neurolinguistically.