echolalia

/ˌɛkoʊˈleɪliə/
noun
  1. The repetition of words or phrases spoken by someone else, often seen in certain developmental or neurological conditions such as autism or Tourette syndrome.
    • Echolalia can be a common feature in early language development, but it usually fades as children grow.
    • In therapy, they worked on reducing echolalia to help the patient communicate more independently.
    • The child's echolalia meant he would repeat his teacher's questions instead of answering them.
  2. The automatic or meaningless repetition of another person's speech, sometimes used in a figurative sense to describe unoriginal or parrot-like behavior.
    • The politician's speech was pure echolalia, just repeating slogans without any original thought.
    • The debate turned into echolalia as each speaker simply echoed the previous one.
    • Her comments were echolalia of the latest internet trends, showing no personal insight.
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