echolalian.
/ɛkəʊˈleɪlɪə/ 1.
a. Pathology. The meaningless repetition of words and phrases.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > unintelligible language, gibberish > [noun] > meaningless repetition
lip-labour?1548
lip-labouring1549
hibber-gibber1593
lip-work1631
echolalia1885
parrotese1889
rhubarb1919
1885 A. H. Buck Ref. Handbk. Med. Sci. I. 290/1 Periphrastic forms of speech and the recurring or barrel-organ utterances, constituting what is known as echolalia.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xxiv. 407 His condition is that of ‘Echolalia’,—instead of answering the question, he simply reiterates it.
1924 A. A. Brill tr. E. Bleuler Textbk. Psychiatry ii. 152 The impulse for such an action can also be given by means of example alone, as in echopraxia and echolalia.
1943 Mind 52 317 The uttering of a tautology may be a natural sign-function which..truly mediates in a particular context many useful inferences, such as, that the person is an unconscious metaphysician, is subject to echolalia, [etc.].
1948 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Dec. 89 Mutism..echolalia, echopraxia, negativism..were the most common symptoms in this group [of schizophrenics].
1955 T. Morrow in G. Caplan Emotional Probl. Early Childhood iii. 343 He displayed, and displays, classical echolalia and delayed echolalia.
1964 B. Rimland Infantile Autism (1965) iii. 180 There are numerous instances of affirmation by repetition and echolalia in the literature on autism.
b. Educational Psychol. The repetition of words and phrases by a child that is learning to speak.
ΚΠ
1924 R. M. Ogden tr. K. Koffka Growth of Mind v. 311 At the time when speech is being learned, there begins a period of echolalia in which the child repeats with tireless continuation all the words or sentences it hears.
1930 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Mar. 264/2 Echolalia or imitation of definite phonetic patterns.
2. A depreciatory term for a succession of sounds in poetry which subordinates sense to sound.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > rhyme > [noun] > subordination of sense to sound
echolalia1895
1895 Westm. Gaz. 3 Dec. 2/1 Our suspect poets, with..their liking for echolalia.
1897 R. Vallance William Morris iii. 31 The ‘Eve of Crecy’ contains two magnificent examples of that mode of poetic expression, dubbed ‘echolalia’ by Max Nordau, and as such condemned by him.
Derivatives
echoˈlaliac adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > unintelligible language, gibberish > [adjective] > given to meaningless repetition
gabbling1566
lip-laborious1630
lip-working1642
echolalian1927
echolaliac1931
echolalic1938
1931 E. Wilson Axel's Castle vii. 252 Most of us balk at her soporific rigmaroles, her echolaliac incantations.
echoˈlalian adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > unintelligible language, gibberish > [adjective] > given to meaningless repetition
gabbling1566
lip-laborious1630
lip-working1642
echolalian1927
echolaliac1931
echolalic1938
1927 C. Gray in H. J. Foss Heritage of Music I. 181 Von Bülow..was at least constant in his echolalian obsessions.
echoˈlalic adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > unintelligible language, gibberish > [adjective] > given to meaningless repetition
gabbling1566
lip-laborious1630
lip-working1642
echolalian1927
echolaliac1931
echolalic1938
1938 J. Eisenson Psychol. Speech iii. 47 When the infant reaches the echolalic and voluntary utterance levels, he has reached a developmental stage where rather finely differentiated muscular responses can be made.
1959 S. Sitwell Bridge of Brocade Sash viii. 170 The priest..who with echolalic persistence reiterated the same name over and over again.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1885