A case of the ‘foreign-accent syndrome’

Abstract

The case of a middle-aged, monolingual Norwegian patient is discussed. After having suffered a stroke the patient developed what sounded like a foreign accent. The rest of her language performance seemed normal. The aberrant articulatory features which contributed to the impression of a foreign accent are described. These features included deviant vowel and consonant articulations, staccato rhythmical patterns and a blurred contrast between the two Norwegian pitch accents.

Key Words:

• Aphasia
• foreign-accent syndrome
• phonetic disturbance