Foreign accent syndrome

The Foreign accent syndrome (FAS, Eng. Foreign accent syndrome ) is a rare neurological disorder that sometimes occurs after a stroke or a traumatic brain injury. The disease manifests itself in a change in the tone of voice of the patient, which is often interpreted by outsiders as an accent to a foreign language. For example, the case of a Norwegian known that seemingly spoke after a head injury with a German accent. A Thuringian speaks after her third stroke 8 years ago, only with a Swiss accent. In another famous case, an Englishwoman spoke after a violent migraine attack with a seemingly French accent. A U.S. citizen speaks after surgery with tooth removal British accent. The loss of the usual speech pattern as well as the reactions of the personal environment may lead to severe psychological stress for those affected.

Disease and possible causes

The cases studied were all from a small-scale violation of the left brain. However, no specific region could be determined, which is responsible for the occurrence of the syndrome. In one known case, the syndrome occurred after a violent migraine attack, led to stroke-like paralysis in which probably dilated blood vessels in the brain. Frequently joined FAS patients before the occurrence of the syndrome, a temporary muteness on. The syndrome itself is a quickly and without lengthy transition period. The language changes occurring follow speech patterns as they occur in normal speech, but no longer the originally spoken accent. On closer investigation, it was shown that the patterns found are not related to a specific actual language. Thus they are assessed by bystanders as general foreign language and evaluated according to perceived similarity.

The rapid onset of the syndrome after the regaining of language suggests that it is not is a learned bypassing of brain damage with FAS. It was therefore suspected that the FAS is caused by direct damage to the Language Center or the language necessary motor centers.