Paraphasia Verbal

Paraphasia is a speech phenomenon when a person, instead of one word, pronounces another, very similar one. Sometimes paraphases are so close in meaning to the “correct” word that it is impossible to guess right away.

Paraphasia can also occur in children. Sometimes this happens after fright or severe physical trauma. It also happens that mentally ill people suffer from paraphasia. In the latter case, distortion of the meaning of words and phrases often occurs. Paraphasia syndromes can act as one of the signs of organic brain damage. But this is not always associated with physical injuries: speech defects can only be functional.