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In psychiatry, stilted speech or pedantic speech is communication characterized by situationally-inappropriate formality. This formality can be expressed both through abnormal prosody as well as speech content that is "inappropriately pompous, legalistic, philosophical, or quaint". Often, such speech can act as evidence for autism spectrum disorder or a thought disorder, a common symptom in schizophrenia or schizotypal personality disorder.
To diagnose stilted speech, researchers have previously looked for the following characteristics:
While literal and long-winded word content is often the most identifiable feature of stilted speech, such speech often displays irregular prosody, especially in resonance. Often, the loudness, pitch, rate, and nasality of pedantic speech vary from normal speech, resulting in the perception of pedantic or stilted speaking. For example, overly loud or high-pitched speech can come across to listeners as overly forceful while slow or nasal speech creates an impression of condescension.
These attributions, which are commonly found in patients with ASD, partially account for why stilted speech has been considered a diagnostic criterion for the disorder. Stilted speech, along with atypical intonation, semantic drift, terseness, and perseveration, are all known deficits with adolescents on the autistic spectrum. Often, stilted speech found in children with ASD will also be especially stereotypic or in some cases even rehearsed.