Abstract

Disturbances in the production and/or perception of prosody are a common feature in a number of language and speech pathologies, like dysarthria in Parkinson Disease, Apraxia of speech and Aphasia. These disturbances are not only considered as outcome variables in diagnosis and therapy, but may also constitute variables on the basis of which improvement in speech and language behaviour is targeted, like in the Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) and in some therapeutical approaches to stuttering.

In this talk I’ll present 1) a number of misunderstandings on prosody as found in the literature on speech and language pathology, 2) an overview of the role of prosody in the study of language and speech pathology, and 3) the possible role played by phoneticians/linguists in this field.