foreign accent syndrome

foreign accent syndrome (countable and uncountable, plural foreign accent syndromes)

1. (medicine, psychology, neurology) An extremely rare disorder, which may be temporary or permanent, in which a person who has suffered a stroke or other brain trauma recovers but subsequently speaks with a seemingly foreign accent.
   • 1991, Gerard L. Ervin, “MLJ News & Notes of the Profession”, in The Modern Language Journal, volume 75, number 2, page 225:

     A Baltimore man suddenly began speaking with a Scandinavian accent after suffering a stroke. . . . The man had "foreign accent syndrome," a rare condition in which a brain malfunction produces speech alterations that sound like a foreign accent.

• speech impediment