The merry vibes of Wintzer: The tale of foreign accent syndrome

Abstract

This chapter aims to illuminate what lies behind the foreign accent syndrome (FAS) label, and to speculate as to why it should arouse such interest and at the same time engender such confusion. FAS is the label given to the phenomenon whereby after a neurological incident, such as stroke, head injury, or progressive neurological illness, it sounds as if a person has begun to speak with a foreign accent, or accent of another region of their country. The explanation of FAS favoured here has been that it is a manifestation of more common or garden dysarthria, apraxia of speech or dysprosody. This chapter suggests that FAS is the disorder par excellence in the ear of the listener and not the mouth of the speaker.