To the untrained ear, those with the syndrome sound as though they speak their native languages with a<unk><unk> ; for example, an American native speaker of English might sound as though they spoke with a south-eastern English<unk> , or a native English speaker from Britain might speak with a New York American<unk> . However, researchers at Oxford University have found that certain specific parts of the brain were injured in some<unk>  cases, indicating that particular parts of the brain control various linguistic functions, and damage could result in altered pitch and/or mispronounced syllables, causing speech patterns to be distorted in a non-specific manner. Contrary to popular belief that individuals with<unk>  exhibit their<unk>  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<unk> , reinforcing the notion that speech pattern alteration is mechanical, and thus non-specific. Generally,<unk>  is not a persisting disorder; it is a temporary stage in recovery from stroke or trauma, or potentially a stage of deterioration.<unk>  mainly affects speech at a segmental or prosodic level. Vowels are more likely to be affected than consonants. Vowel errors include an increase in vowel tensing, monophthongization of diphthongs, and vowel fronting and raising. There is evidence of both vowel shortening and lengthening. Consonantal anomalies include cases of changes in articulation, manner, and voicing. On a suprasegmental level, there are changes in intonation and pitch, such as monotonous intonation or exaggerations in pitch height and range. There are also difficulties in using stress<unk> s to indicate pragmatics and meaning. There is a tendency for<unk>  patients to switch to syllable-timed prosody when their native language is stress-timed. This perception could be due to changes in syllable durations, and the addition of epenthetic vowels.<unk>  has many similarities to apraxia of speech (AoS), which is another motor speech disorder. Some researchers think that<unk>  is a mild form of AoS because they are both caused by similar lesions in the brain. However,<unk>  differs from AoS in that<unk>  patients have more control over their speech deficits and their<unk><unk> ” is a form of compensation for their speech problems. Because there are relatively few differences in the symptoms of<unk>  and AoS, a listeners’ perception of the affected speech plays a large role in diagnosis of<unk>  rather than AoS. The listener has to be familiar with a<unk><unk>  in order to attribute it to the affected speech of someone with<unk> . The perception of a<unk><unk>  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<unk>  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."
Foreign accent syndrome
Austrian syndrome
Nasodigitoacoustic syndrome
Motion sickness
Heart-hand syndromes
Reynolds syndrome
Vitreous touch syndrome
Space adaptation syndrome