The third element of speech: prosody in the neuro-psychiatric clinic.

Prosody is one of the three fundamental elements of speech, the two others being vocabulary and grammar. It consists of variations in pitch, stress and rhythm, but is independent of musical faculties, wherefore such terms as “the melody of speech” and the like should be abandoned as terms which mobilize false associations. Prosody serves semantic purposes and enables us to convey meanings and subtle shades of meaning which the two other elements cannot express adequately. As important elements of language, in which the prosody is the sole semantic factor, the author mentions what he calls “ prosodic grunts ”,inarticulate sounds closely related to interjections. Their importance is brought home to us by analysing the consequences of their loss, so frequent in paralysis agitans. The prosodic disturbances can be grouped under the headings of 1. Hyperprosody , 2. Dysprosody , and 3. Hypo- and a-prosody . The occurrence and significance of these are discussed, with particular attention to the hypoprosody of paralysis agitans and its peculiar somato-psychic consequences. Finally, localization problems are briefly touched upon.