Foreign accent syndrome

Foreign accent syndrome
Classification and external resources
Patient UK	Foreign accent syndrome

Foreign accent syndrome is a rare medical condition in which patients develop what appears to be a foreign accent.

Foreign accent syndrome usually results from a stroke, but can also develop from head trauma, migraines or developmental problems. The condition was first reported in 1907, and between 1941 and 2009 there were sixty-two recorded cases.

Its symptoms result from distorted articulatory planning and coordination processes and although popular news articles commonly attempt to identify the closest regional accent, speakers suffering from foreign accent syndrome acquire neither a specific foreign accent nor any additional fluency in a foreign language.The result of this happening is in spite of an injury to the brain. Despite an unconfirmed news report in 2010 that a Croatian speaker has gained the ability to speak fluent German after emergence from a coma, there has been no verified case where a patient's foreign language skills have improved after a brain injury. There have been a few reported cases of children and siblings picking up the new accent from someone with foreign accent syndrome.

Signs and symptoms

To the untrained ear, those with the syndrome sound as though they speak their native languages with a foreign accent; for example, an American native speaker of English might sound as though he spoke with a south-eastern English accent, or a native English speaker might speak with a New York American accent. However, researchers at Oxford University have found that certain, specific parts of the brain were injured in some foreign accent syndrome cases, indicating that certain parts of the brain control various linguistic functions, and damage could result in altered pitch or mispronounced syllables, causing speech patterns to be distorted in a non-specific manner. Contrary to popular beliefs that individuals with FAS exhibit their accent without any effort, these individuals feel as if they are suffering from a speech disorder. More recently, there is mounting evidence that the cerebellum, which controls motor function, may be crucially involved in some cases of foreign accent syndrome, reinforcing the notion that speech pattern alteration is mechanical, and thus non-specific.

The perception of a foreign accent is likely to be a case of pareidolia on the part of the listener. Nick Miller, Professor of Motor Speech Disorders at Newcastle University has explained: "The notion that sufferers speak in a foreign language is something that is in the ear of the listener, rather than the mouth of the speaker. It is simply that the rhythm and pronunciation of speech has changed."

Diagnosis

Since this syndrome is very rare, it takes several specialists to evaluate the syndrome and diagnose it, such as speech-language pathologists, neurologists, neuropsychologists, and psychologists. Psychological evaluations may be performed in order to rule out any psychiatric condition that may be causing the change in speech, as well as tests to assess reading, writing, and language comprehension. One of the symptoms of this syndrome is that the patient moves their tongue or jaw differently while speaking which creates a different sound, so a recording is done of the speech pattern in order to analyze it. In addition to these psychological tests, images of the brain are taken with either MRI, CT, SPECT or PET scans. This is in order to see if any damage has been done to the areas of the brain that control rhythm and melody of speech. Brain activity is also measured with an EEG in order to evaluate the activity of these parts of the brain during speech.

History

The condition was first described in 1907 by the French neurologist Pierre Marie, and another early case was reported in a Czech study in 1919. Other well-known cases of the syndrome have included one that occurred in Norway in 1941 after a young woman, Astrid L., suffered a head injury from shrapnel during an air-raid. After apparently recovering from the injury, she was left with what sounded like a strong German accent and was shunned by her fellow Norwegians.

Society and culture

Cases of foreign accent syndrome often receive significant media coverage, and cases have been reported in the popular media as the resulting from various causes including stroke, allergic reaction, physical injury, and migraine. A woman with foreign accent syndrome was featured on both Inside Edition and Discovery Health Channel's Mystery ER in October 2008, and in September 2013 the BBC published an hour-long documentary about Sarah Colwill, a woman from Devon, whose Chinese foreign accent syndrome resulted from a severe migraine. In season 2 episode 12 of Hart of Dixie, one storyline revolved around AnnaBeth and whom she fancied, a man with foreign accent syndrome, named Oliver.

See also

• Apraxia of speech
• Xenoglossia
• Susac's syndrome

Further reading

• Dankovičová J, Gurd JM, Marshall JC, MacMahon MKC, Stuart-Smith J, Coleman JS, Slater A. Aspects of non-native pronunciation in a case of altered accent following stroke (foreign accent syndrome). Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 2001;15:195-218.

External links

• Article from New Zealand 13 July 2010
• "Stroke gives man Italian accent" at BBC Radio 4 Home Truths, 4 November 2005
• "I woke up with a foreign accent" at ABC News
• Journal of Neurolinguistics, Volume 19, Issue 5. Special issue on foreign accent syndrome.
• "Foreign Accent Syndrome Support" – site created by researchers at University of Texas at Dallas
• "Health Sentinel: Connecting symptoms finally leads to disorder diagnosis" – article from Fort Wayne, IN describing a woman's struggles with rare conditions, including Foreign Accent Syndrome. 6 December 2010
• "Woman Goes to Bed with Migraine, Wakes Up with European Accent" – article from Wabash, IN The Paper 24 July 2013.
• "FAS Sisters" Ellen and Fran meet for the first time weeks after Ellen's onset of Foreign Accent Syndrome and years after Fran's. Video, May 2009
• "Re:FAS Sisters" – A YouTube video of Foreign Accent Syndrome speech at six months post onset. November 2009. Six months after onset of Foreign Accent Syndrome.
• "FAS birthday 2" Video of Ellen explaining differences in Foreign Accent Syndrome manifestations learned over four years.
• "Foreign Accent Syndrome – Ellen5e Learning and teaching Ellens- FAS_Birthday_4"- video of Ellen speaking four years post onset of Foreign Accent Syndrome. Shows adaptation technique for singing and speech. May 11, 2013.