The compulsive repetition of what is spoken by another person. The tone and accent of the speaker are copied as well as the words. Echolalia may be a symptom of schizophrenia and sometimes occurs in people with a learning disability or autism.
Echolalia is the meaningless repetition, by a person suffering from mental deterioration, of words and phrases addressed to him/her.
n. pathological repetition of the words spoken by another person. It may be a symptom of language disorders, *autism, severe mental illness (e.g. catatonic schizophrenia), dementia, or *Tourette’s syndrome.
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