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What Is Alogia?

Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

Shaheen Lakhan, MD, PhD, is an award-winning physician-scientist and clinical development specialist.

Chris Garrett / Getty Images

Alogia Symptoms

Examples of alogia, alogia treatment, coping with alogia.

Alogia comes from the Greek words meaning "without speech" and refers to a poverty of speech that results from impairment in thinking that affects language abilities. More specifically, it involves using fewer words, answering only what is directly asked, and speaking in a way that may be vague, repetitive, or overly concrete.

Alogia can be a symptom of various conditions, but it is most commonly associated with schizophrenia and is considered a "negative symptom," meaning that it takes away the ability to do something.

If you are living with alogia, or know somebody who is, you will know that it can impair your ability to hold conversations and may lead to social isolation. For this reason, it is an important symptom to understand, in terms of how to manage and cope as best you can.

While most symptoms related to alogia are considered "negative" symptoms of schizophrenia (that appear early in the course of the illness before a psychotic break, such as up to 1 to 3 years prior), alogia actually involves both positive and negative symptoms.

The positive symptoms emerge when there is poverty in the content of speech (meaning that it becomes disorganized or incoherent).

The negative symptoms relate to things like thought blocking, response latency, and poverty of speech. About 15 to 30 percent of those with schizophrenia have negative symptoms. These are described in more detail below.

A person experiencing alogia may exhibit any or all of the following negative symptoms:

giving replies to questions that are overly brief or concrete (giving short, one-word answers)
not speaking spontaneously (only giving an answer to what was asked of you)
laconic (blunt) speech or poverty of speech (not using many words)
normal amount of speech but the speech is nonsensical
vague, empty, or repetitive ways of speaking
poverty of content (talking without really saying anything)
thought blocking (stopping speaking in the middle of a sentence because the thought has been lost)
taking a long time to respond to questions or taking a long time to speak from one word to the next (long pauses between words)
failing to answer at all when asked direct questions
slurring words when speaking
not pronouncing consonants clearly or ending words at the second syllable
trailing off into a whisper at the end of sentences
having trouble finding the right words when speaking
having trouble formulating thoughts enough to speak
having a flat tone when speaking
having a dull facial expression during conversation

To summarize, alogia is one of five types of negative symptoms that are present in schizophrenia (blunted affect, anhedonia , asociality, and avolition are the other four).

Alogia can be caused by schizophrenia or by other illnesses such as severe depression, bipolar disorder , traumatic brain injury, dementia , Alzheimer's, or schizotypal disorder .

Alogia can also be a secondary effect, resulting from primary symptoms such as psychosis or anxiety. For example, you might choose not to speak, because there are voices in your head threatening you if you do. Similarly, you might not speak due to feeling paranoid around other people or nervous/anxious.

In order to determine that alogia is caused by schizophrenia, it is necessary to first rule out other organic mental disorders.

In schizophrenia, it is considered a negative symptom related to the illness.

In contrast, in the case of illnesses involving dysfunction of the central nervous system, such as what is found with dementia or other illnesses that involve mental deficiency, alogia has a different cause.

Alogia may even appear in those without a mental illness, as a result of a disruption in thought processes due to extreme stress or fatigue. In this sense, alogia may appear on a continuum from mild to severe depending on the source of the symptoms.

With schizophrenia, alogia involves a disruption in the thought process that leads to a lack of speech and issues with verbal fluency. For this reason, it is thought that alogia that appears as part of schizophrenia may result from disorganized semantic memory .

What's more, it's believed that this may be caused by brain dysfunction which causes the semantic store to degrade, which is the part of the brain that helps you to process language and the meaning of words. This explains why those with alogia produce fewer words overall and have trouble with finding the words to say what they want to say.

In a study of 38 people with schizophrenia and 38 controls, those with schizophrenia demonstrated disorganized semantic structure in their language, meaning that they made strange associations between words. This suggests once again that alogia related to schizophrenia is due to semantic memory disorganization.

In summary, alogia seems to be related to how your brain obtains words and meanings from your long-term memory stores. When different parts of the brain have difficulty communicating with each other, this can create the symptoms that manifest as alogia.

Clearly more research is needed to fully understand the cause and effect; however, if you live with alogia, know that this is most likely a primary symptom of schizophrenia and not simply an after-effect. In other words, it's not that you just need to "try harder" (or that a friend or relative needs to try harder, if you know someone with this illness).

Below is an example of a conversation with someone with alogia. Following that is an example of a conversation with someone without alogia. Notice that there are differences in how much information is spontaneously offered when asked questions.

Q: Do you have a job?

Q: What is your job?

Q: Where do you work?

A: At the school

A: Yes, I work as a janitor. I do the night shift.

A: I work at Woodside College, it's a school on the other side of town.

Alogia Example #2 (incoherent speech, vague, little information actually provided)

Q: Why do you work as a janitor?

A: To explain that... it's the tendency to do it.... some times more than other times.... the thing that happens... you know, the way the world works... that's what I think about.

Non-Alogia Example

Q: It's good money and I like working nights. Not too many people around and it's quiet.

Treatment for alogia follows along with treatment for the underlying condition. In the case of schizophrenia, this typically means a combination of medication and therapy. Below are the main ways that medication and therapy may be used in the treatment of alogia.

Medications such as second-generation antipsychotics or antidepressants may be used to treat alogia. However, medications can sometimes have adverse effects. If you will be taking medication, it is important to work closely with your doctor and to take the medication exactly as it is prescribed.

What forms of therapy are helpful for alogia? It all depends on the underlying cause. For example, in the case of an organic mental disorder such as dementia, speech therapy might be used. In the case of schizophrenia, social skills training or family education might be offered.

Living with alogia can have impacts on your quality of life. You may withdraw socially from family and friends due to an inability to carry on a conversation or organize your thoughts.

Your ability to find work, hold a job, or interact with coworkers or customers could also be affected. This could have long-lasting effects on your quality of life.

Know first of all that social situations will tend to worsen alogia. When there is a lot of external stimulation, it will be harder for you to process your thoughts and produce verbally.

Below is a list of things that you could do to help manage alogia or to help a family member or friend who is living with alogia:

Make sure those around you know that your lack of speech is a symptom of your illness so that they can learn more about this symptom and understand what you are experiencing.
Be aware of your limitations and avoid putting yourself into stressful situations that will exacerbate your alogia symptoms when possible.
Work with your doctor or mental health professional on a plan for coping and what you will do if your symptoms worsen. It's always better to put a plan in place when you are thinking more clearly than to wait for those times when your symptoms are severe.
If you have been prescribed medication or are attending therapy, follow the protocol as outlined so that you obtain the full effect.
Take a video of yourself on your good days, reminding you that there are better days ahead if you can make it through the tough ones. Replay that video for yourself on the days that you are struggling.
Read books, watch videos, and educate yourself about what you are experiencing so that you have a better understanding yourself. While this won't mitigate your symptoms, just having a better understanding of what you are experiencing may help to lower your level of stress.

If alogia seems to result from anxiety or from primary symptoms, talk to your doctor or mental health professional about treating those other issues that are contributing to alogia.

You can ask a friend or family member to monitor your symptoms and to make you aware if they seem to be getting worse so that you can follow up with your doctor or mental health professional. It may be hard to recognize this yourself.

Look for community supports or those through a workplace (if you are working) to help you manage tasks of daily living. If you tend to isolate yourself due to alogia, it could also be helpful to join a support group or other situation where you are regularly meeting with others so as to avoid becoming completely isolated.

Be kind and compassionate toward yourself when experiencing alogia. Your symptoms are a result of your illness and not a personal failing. While they will be difficult to manage, the secondary effects of isolation and feeling bad about yourself are within your scope of control.

A Word From Verywell

If you or someone you know is showing signs of alogia, it is important to visit your doctor or mental health professional. Alogia can be one of the early negative symptoms of schizophrenia that emerges prior to symptoms of psychosis. Early identification, diagnosis, and treatment is critical in this case; the sooner symptoms can be identified and dealt with, the better the long-term prognosis will be.

If you are unsure where to turn regarding your symptoms, your primary care doctor is usually the best option. Your doctor will be able to refer you to a mental health professional for further assessment and treatment.

If you do not have access to these services at this time, start by looking for community agencies that serve mental health populations. They should be able to direct you toward individuals who can help.

Above all, remember that there is no shame in reaching out for help; rather, it is the best step you can take. Asking for and receiving help for schizophrenia and related symptoms of alogia is the best thing that you can do and you should feel good about making this effort toward improvement.

Marder SR, Galderisi S. The current conceptualization of negative symptoms in schizophrenia . World Psychiatry . 2017;16(1):14-24. doi:10.1002/wps.20385

Kuperberg GR. Language in schizophrenia Part 1: an Introduction . Lang Linguist Compass . 2010;4(8):576-589. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00216.x

Chuang JY, Murray GK, Metastasio A, et al. Brain structural signatures of negative symptoms in depression and schizophrenia . Front Psychiatry. 2014;5:116. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00116

Paraschakis A. Tackling negative symptoms of schizophrenia with memantine . Case Rep Psychiatry. 2014;2014:384783. doi:10.1155/2014/384783

Sumiyoshi C, Sumiyoshi T, Nohara S, et al. Disorganization of semantic memory underlies alogia in schizophrenia: an analysis of verbal fluency performance in Japanese subjects . Schizophr Res. 2005;74(1):91-100. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2004.05.011

By Arlin Cuncic, MA Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

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Thought Disorder

Formal thought disorder refers to an impaired capacity to sustain coherent discourse, and occurs in the patient’s written or spoken language.

Indeed, the most basic assessment of thought content requires at least some degree of language competence.
For research purposes, scales have been developed to study the quality and severity of abnormalities in thought, language, and communication.
In clinical practice, formal thought disorder is assessed by engaging patients in open-ended conversation and observing their verbal responses.
A number of medical and surgical conditions can affect language performance; the term formal thought disorder is used when these conditions are excluded from the diagnosis.
The cause of formal thought disorder is not established. Research has implicated abnormalities in the semantic system in patients with schizophrenia .
Thought disorder is often accompanied by executive function problems and general disorganization.
Abnormalities in language are common in the general population, in everyday conversation. Thus, the categorical presence or absence of the following language problems is not absolutely diagnostic of any condition. However, heightened frequency and severity of these problems should be noted by the physician and accounted for in the patient’s diagnostic formulation.

Formal thought disorder descriptors (adapted from the Thought, Language, and Communication scale) [1] :

Poverty of speech: restricted quantity of speech; brief, unelaborated responses
Poverty of content of speech: adequate speech quantity with prominent vagueness and inappropriate level of abstraction
Pressure of speech: increased rate and quantity of speech; speech may be loud and difficult to interrupt
Distractible speech: topic maintenance difficulties due to distraction by nearby stimulus
Tangentiality: Replies to questions are off-point or totally irrelevant.
Derailment (loosening of associations): spontaneous speech with marked impairments in topic maintenance
Incoherence (word salad, schizaphasia): severe lack of speech cohesion at the basic level of syntax and/or semantics within sentences
Illogicality: marked errors in inferential logic
Clanging: speech in which word choice is governed by word sound rather than meaning; word choice may show rhyming or punning associations
Neologism: the creation of new "words"
Word approximations: unconventional and idiosyncratic word use
Circumstantiality: excessively indirect speech; speech is liable to be overinclusive and include irrelevant detail
Loss of goal: difficulty in topic maintenance in reference to failure to arrive at the implicit goal of a statement
Perseveration: excessive repetition of words, ideas, or subjects
Echolalia: speech repeats words or phrases of interviewer
Blocking: interruption of speech while ostensibly in pursuit of a goal
Stilted speech: odd language use that may be excessively formal, pompous, outdated, or quaint
Self-reference: The patient is liable to refer the subject of conversation back to him/herself.
Paraphasic error (phonemic): word mispronunciation, slip of the tongue
Paraphasic error (semantic): substitution of an inappropriate word to make a specific statement

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POVERTY OF SPEECH

excessively short speech with minimal elaborations which takes place in schizophrenia or sometimes in the framework of a major depressive event. It is different from poverty of content of speech , wherein the quality of speech is reduced.

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Speech Deficits in Serious mental Illness: A Cognitive Resource Issue?

Alex s. cohen.

a Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University

Jessica E. McGovern

Thomas j. dinzeo.

b Department of Psychology, Rowan University

Michael A. Covington

c Institute for Artificial Intelligence, The University of Georgia

Speech deficits, notably those involved in psychomotor retardation, blunted affect, alogia and poverty of content of speech, are pronounced in a wide range of serious mental illnesses (e.g., schizophrenia, unipolar depression, bipolar disorders). The present project evaluated the degree to which these deficits manifest as a function of cognitive resource limitations. We examined natural speech from 52 patients meeting criteria for serious mental illnesses (i.e., severe functional deficits with a concomitant diagnosis of schizophrenia, unipolar and/or bipolar affective disorders) and 30 non-psychiatric controls using a range of objective, computer-based measures tapping speech production (“alogia”), variability (“blunted vocal affect”) and content (“poverty of content of speech”). Subjects produced natural speech during a baseline condition and while engaging in an experimentally-manipulated cognitively-effortful task. For correlational analysis, cognitive ability was measured using a standardized battery. Generally speaking, speech deficits did not differ as a function of SMI diagnosis. However, every speech production and content measure was significantly abnormal in SMI versus control groups. Speech variability measures generally did not differ between groups. For both patients and controls as a group, speech during the cognitively-effortful task was sparser and less rich in content. Relative to controls, patients were abnormal under cognitive load with respect only to average pause length. Correlations between the speech variables and cognitive ability were only significant for this same variable: average pause length. Results suggest that certain speech deficits, notably involving pause length, may manifest as a function of cognitive resource limitations. Implications for treatment, research and assessment are discussed.

1. Introduction

Serious mental illness (SMI) – defined in terms of serious functional impairments due to a diagnosable mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorders), carries a profound burden of illness and disability. Mounting evidence suggests that there are often commonalities in individuals with SMI with respect to symptom presentation (e.g., Insel et al., 2010 ), functional impairments (e.g., Pini et al., 2001 , Simonsen et al., 2011 ), neurobiology (e.g., Ng et al., 2008 ) and treatment response (e.g., Roth et al., 2004 ) related variables in ways that transcend traditional diagnostic boundaries ( NIMH, 2013 ). In response, there have been repeated calls to understand the mechanisms underlying symptoms in mental illness beyond those involved with traditionally-defined diagnostic groups. In the present paper, we evaluate whether cognitive liabilities underlie speech deficits in individuals with SMI using highly sensitive objective measures and both experimental and correlational methods.

Deficits in speech communication, defined in terms of reduced production (e.g., alogia), variability (e.g., blunted affect) and content (e.g., poverty of content – speech that lacks meaning, irrespective of quantity of speech) are a staple of SMI (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013, Cohen et al., 2012 , Tremeau et al., 2005 ). These deficits are often chronic in course, medication resistant and related to poor prognosis ( Kirkpatrick et al., 2001 ). Despite these symptoms reflecting important Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) as “Production of Non-Facial Communication”, and hence, being potentially instrumental for understanding pathophysiological processes and improving diagnosis ( Cohen et al., 2012 ; Insel et al., 2010 ; NIMH, 2013 ), our understanding of their nature is poor. An unfortunate obstacle in understanding and measuring speech deficits is a reliance on interviewer-based rating scales ( Horan et al., 2011 ; Kirkpatrick et al., 2011 ). Data from these scales are relatively insensitive to change given the limited range of response options and ambiguous operational definitions, produce ordinal data that are inappropriate for parametric statistics, often cover wide temporal swaths, and are imprecise for isolating specific behaviors from other negative traits/symptoms ( Alpert et al., 2002 , Cohen et al., 2008 , Cohen and Elvavag, 2014 ). Moreover, these scales have limited resolution for understanding how expressive deficits modulate within individuals, how they differ across individuals, and how they are uniquely related to cognitive, functional, pathophysiological, genetic and other variables. Thus, it is little surprise that our mechanistic understanding of speech deficits is poor. Emerging computerized technologies have allowed for assessment of speech deficits with near perfect inter-rater reliability and greater sensitivity and specificity than clinical rating scales ( Alpert et al., 2002 ; Cohen et al., 2008 , Cohen and Hong, 2011 , Cohen et al., 2012 ).

There is reason to think that speech deficits may reflect a broader cognitive resource issue in patients with serious mental illness. A substantial amount of research from a range of disciplines suggests that humans have a limited amount of cognitive resources at any given time, and allocating resources towards one task (e.g., remembering a phone number or name, operating a motor vehicle) limits the resources available for speech (e.g., Plass, Moreno, and Branken, 2010 ). To date, at least six studies have found evidence that depletion of cognitive resources, conducted using experimental methods, results in reduction of speech quantity ( Barch and Berenbaum, 1994 , Barch and Berenbaum 1996 , Cohen et al., 2012a , Cohen et al., 2014a , Tuček et al., 2012 ; Yin et al., 2007 ). Some of these studies have also documented changes in speech variability ( Cohen et al., 2012a , Cohen et al., 2014a , Tuček et al., 2012 ; Yin et al., 2007 ) and speech content ( Barch and Berenbaum, 1994 ; Barch and Berenbaum 1996 ) as well.

There is good reason to suspect that cognitive resource limitations may reflect a mechanism by which speech deficits manifest. First, patients with SMI show a broad range of cognitive deficits and these deficits are, in at least some studies, similar across diagnostic categories ( Cohen et al., 2012 ; Simonsen et al., 2011 ). Second, poorer cognitive ability has been associated with negative symptoms in schizophrenia (e.g, Cohen et al., 2007 ), severity of melancholia in depression (e.g., Austin, et al., 1999 ), and with social functioning in bipolar disorder ( Burdick et al., 2010 ) using interview-based rating scales. Third, correlational studies have demonstrated a link between cognitive deficits (e.g., processing speed) and abnormal speech production and speech variability in patients with SMI (e.g., Cohen et al., 2013 ; Gur et al., 2006 ). Finally, several experimental studies have demonstrated that increased cognitive load in patients with schizophrenia was associated with decreased speech production and poverty of content ( Barch and Berenbaum, 1996 , Melinder and Barch, 2003 ).

There are critical limitations in our understanding of the link between neurocognition and speech deficits in SMI. Of note, experimental studies examining patients (i.e., Barch and Berenbaum, 1996 , Melinder and Barch, 2003 ) failed to include control groups, so it is unclear whether speech is actually abnormal in any regard relative to the population. Moreover, prior studies employing objective or computerized analysis of speech tended to focus solely on speech production at the expense of speech variability and speech content. Furthermore, prior studies have employed limited indices of speech production (e.g., word counts) and variability (e.g., mean volume, variability of F0). This is a critical point highlighted in a recent meta-analysis of objective measures of speech deficits in schizophrenia ( Cohen et al., 2014b ) – that there has been little consistency in which speech variables are reported across studies (e.g., eight different variables of speech production reported across 13 studies), and considerable disparity in magnitude of deficit across these variables (range of d ’s = −.20 – −2.56). In the present study, we addressed these limitations and conducted the most sophisticated study to date clarifying the cognitive underpinnings of speech deficits in SMI. We employed both correlational and experimental approaches, and a broad set of sophisticated and diverse computer-based measures of natural speech indicated in a recent psychometric investigation from our group ( Cohen et al., 2014c ).

2.1. Participants

Participants were recruited from outpatient community mental health clinics and group homes based on meeting federal criteria for having an SMI defined in terms of adults (i.e., age 18 or older) who currently, or in the past year, meet criteria for a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder that results in functional impairment which substantially interferes with one or more major life activities (i.e., per the ADAMHA Reorganization Act). Participants included 52 patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; APA, 1994 ) diagnosed schizophrenia ( n = 35) or unipolar major depressive or bipolar disorders ( n = 17). Note that there was substantial blurring between these diagnostic categories in that a significant portion of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia also had a history of depression and mania (19% and 22%, respectively), and that a significant portion of patients diagnosed with affective disorders had a history of psychosis (33%). Hence, the primary focus of this study involved collapsing patients into an SMI group – though traditional diagnosis was retained as a variable of interest for some analyses. Diagnoses were made based on information obtained from the patients’ medical records and from a structured clinical interview (SCID-IV; First et al., 1996 ). Exclusion criteria included: a) Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF; APA, 1994 ) rating below 30, b) documented evidence of mental retardation from the medical records, c) current or historical DSM-IV diagnosis of drug dependence with symptoms of severe physiological symptoms (e.g., delirium tremens, “blacking out”), and d) history of significant head trauma (requiring overnight hospitalization). All patients were clinically stable at the time of testing and were receiving pharmacotherapy. Controls ( n = 30) were recruited from the community using the above exclusion criteria with the exception that they be free of current and past psychotic and affective disorders (per a SCID interview). Participants received $40 for their participation. This study was approved by the appropriate Human Subject Review Boards and all participants offered informed consent prior to participating in the study. Demographic and clinical information is included in Table 1 .

Descriptive statistics for demographic and clinical variables for the control and serious mental illness (SMI) groups.

2.2. Diagnostic and Symptom Ratings

Psychiatric symptoms were measured using the Expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS; Lukoff et al., 1986 ). BPRS ratings were made using information obtained from medical records, the patients’ treatment teams and self-report and behavioral observations made during the research interview. Factor subscale scores reflecting positive, depression/anxiety and mania/excitement symptoms were computed ( Ventura et al., 2000 ). Negative symptoms were measured using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptom (SANS; Andreasen, 1984 ) global scores. Preliminary diagnoses and ratings were made by one of four doctoral-level students who were trained to criterion (Intra-class Correlation Coefficient values > .70).

2.3. Speech Tasks

Subjects were seated in front of a computer monitor and asked to perform two separate 90-second speaking tasks involving topics without demonstrative positive or negative emotional valence (i.e., hobbies, foods, daily routines) during which participants were encouraged to speak as much as possible (see Cohen et al., 2012a ; Cohen et al., 2013a ). During a “baseline” narrative task condition, participants provided speech while passively watching symbols appear on the monitor. Six different visual symbols were presented at 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500 millisecond inter-stimulus intervals. During a “high-load” narrative task, participants spoke while performing a one-back test. This task involved forced-choice responding (i.e., “match”, “non-match”) to stimuli when consecutively appearing visual symbols on a computer screen were identical. The visual stimuli and their presentation were identical across the two conditions. Four patients were excluded from the present study for not responding to the cognitive task (accuracy < 10%). Order of task and speech topic was randomized.

2.4. Speech Production and Speech Variability

The Computerized Assessment from Natural Speech protocol (CANS; Cohen et al., 2010 ; Cohen et al., 2009 ) was employed. The CANS system organizes sound files into “frames” for analysis, which for the present study was set at a rate of 100 frames per second. During each frame, frequency and volume are quantified, and information about pauses, utterances, intonation and emphasis are extracted. Our selection of these variables was based on a recent psychometric analysis of 1350 young adults using this procedure ( Cohen et al., 2014b ). We examined the following variables in this study: pause number – total count of all pauses (>150 ms) in the speech sample, pause length – average length of pauses (in milliseconds), utterance length – average length of utterances (in milliseconds), intonation – average standard deviation of fundamental frequency values computed separately for each utterance, intensity – average intensity values (i.e., volume) computed within each utterance, emphasis – average standard deviation of intensity values, computed separately for each utterance. Based on recent evidence that formant values are important for understanding schizophrenia ( Covington et al., 2012 ), the standard deviation of the Formant 1 (indicating tongue height) and Formant 2 (indicating tongue position from front to back) values were also computed. All fundamental frequency values were log-transformed to control for their nonlinear distribution. Additionally, speech production was measured using word count (described below).

Speech content was measured in terms of filler words and semantic and vocabulary density. Word count (as a measure of speech production) and use of word filler/nonfluencies was measured using computerized lexical analysis of the transcribed speech samples via the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program ( Pennebaker, 2001 ). We examined nonfluency (e.g., “er”, “um”, “hm”) and filler (e.g., “I mean”, “you know”, “blah”, multiple word repetitions [“I, I, I went the store]) categories, which were combined together. Semantic complexity (i.e., idea density) was measured using CPIDR 5.1 (Computerized Propositional Idea Density Rater, program version 5.1.4637.21009; Covington, 2012 ). CPIDR is a free, validated, computerized part-of-speech tagger that counts the number of propositions or assertions (verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and subordinating conjunctions with some adjustment rules) and divides those by the total number of words in the text ( Brown et al., 2008 ). A parameter known as “speech mode” was used to eliminate hesitation words (e.g., um, uh) and repetitions from the total word count, thereby reducing the impact of hesitant speech and avoiding a redundant measure of such words. Vocabulary (i.e., lexical) diversity was measured using a moving-average type-token ratio, i.e., the average of the vocabulary length in a moving text sequence of 20 consecutive words ( Covington and McFall, 2010 ). Higher scores of the latter two variables indicate more semantically complex and vocabulary-rich text that expresses a greater variety of meaning per volume.

2.5. Cognition Ability

Basic cognitive ability was measured using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS; Keefe, 1999 ), a battery assessing executive functions, psychomotor speed, attention, verbal memory and working memory. Due to potential circularity in examining speech production as a function of verbal fluency, the verbal fluency score was excluded.

2.6. Analyses

The analyses were conducted in four steps. First, we computed zero-order correlations between our 12 speech measures of interest to determine whether any of the variables were redundant with each other, defined as an r value > .85 (i.e., sharing 72% of variance). Second, we examined potential demographic and cognitive differences between the SMI and control groups that might inform subsequent analyses. We also compared patients with schizophrenia and those without on all dependent, clinical and descriptive measures. Additionally, the effects of speech topic (i.e., randomized across conditions), depression and demographic variables on the consequent results were considered. Third, we compared the SMI and control groups on speech characteristics for the baseline and high-load tasks using repeated-measures ANOVAs. We predicted significant group, condition, and interaction effects such that a) all subjects would show a declination in speech characteristics as a function of increasing cognitive load, b) patients overall would show less speech production, variability and content, and c) the speech of patients would show a more dramatic declination in speech characteristics under load compared to controls. Fourth, we computed correlations between speech characteristics (from the baseline condition) and general psychiatric symptom ratings, negative symptom ratings and cognitive performance variables. Although these correlations were largely exploratory, we expected that speech characteristics would be associated with cognitive ability (i.e., BACS) negative and depressive symptoms but not other psychiatric symptoms. All analyses in this study were two-tailed and all variables were normally distributed (skew < 1.5). Extreme scores (> 3.5 SD) were trimmed (i.e., replaced with values 3.5 SD).

3.1. Zero-Order Correlations

Zero-order correlations (see Table 2 ) suggested that the variables were relatively independent of each other. The only variables approaching redundancy (i.e., r > .85) were between the word count and Pause Length variables for controls ( r = −.83) and the Pause Number and Pause Mean variables for the patients ( r = −.80).

Zero-order correlation matrix of speech variables for controls (italicized) and patients.

3.2 Demographic and Descriptive Variables

Education and GAF scores were significantly different between the patient and control groups ( p ’s < .05), but there were no other significant differences (see Table 1 ). Patients meeting criteria for schizophrenia versus those that did not were not statistically dissimilar in age, education level, current GAF, any of the cognitive ability scores, performance on the n-back portion of the high-load task or severity of any of manic/excitement, depression/anxiety or negative symptoms ratings. Patients with schizophrenia versus those without were more likely to be male (75% versus 45%; X 2 5.41, p = .02) and had more severe positive symptoms ( t [56] = 2.71, p = .01). The patient groups only significantly differed in four of 24 speech variables (i.e., 12 variables for baseline and high-load conditions). Schizophrenia patients showed lower intonation during both baseline and high-load conditions ( t ’s[50] = 2.89 and 3.03, p ’s = .006 and .004 respectively), lower baseline intensity ( t [50] = 2.29, p = .03) and greater baseline word counts ( t [50] = 2.05, p = .045). Each of these results was nonsignificant when sex was controlled for. With one exception (i.e., baseline word count; F [2, 78] = 3.98, p = .02), speech variables did not differ as a function of speech topic. The results in sections 3.2 and 3.3 did not appreciably change when speech condition, demographic variables or severity of depressive symptoms were controlled for.

3.3. Group Comparisons on Speech Characteristics

Significant condition effects were observed for each of the four speech production and three content variables such that increased cognitive demands were associated with lower word counts, fewer pauses with longer lengths (i.e., lower N, longer Length), shorter utterance lengths, less semantically and lexically rich speech and increased word fillers ( Table 3 ). With the exception of increasing intensity , none of the speech variability measures changed between conditions. Group effects were observed for some of the speech production (i.e., three of four), content (i.e., three of seven) and variability (i.e., two of five) measures. Overall, patients showed significantly fewer words, fewer pauses with longer lengths, greater F1 variability, louder speech, and less semantically and lexically rich speech. A significant interaction was observed for pause length . Post-hoc analyses of the interactions, using t -tests, revealed that pauses and utterances became disproportionately longer for patients versus controls as the cognitive demands of the task increased (see Figure 1 ).

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Comparison of mean pause times for baseline and high-load conditions for control (Grey Bar) and serious mental illness (Black Bar) groups.

Means and standard deviations of speech variables for baseline and high-load conditions for control (Con) and serious mental illness (SMI) groups with F values from mixed-design analyses of variance.

3.4. Speech Characteristics, Symptoms and Cognitive Ability

Generally speaking, there were few significant correlations between general psychiatric symptoms and speech characteristics ( Table 4 ), though positive symptoms were associated with greater F1 variability . On the other hand, negative symptoms, notably flat affect and alogia, showed a range of speech correlates. More severe ratings of flat affect and alogia were both significantly associated with lower word counts, greater pause lengths and fewer pauses. Flat affect was also associated with greater intonation , louder speech and less semantically and lexically rich speech. Generally speaking, few of the correlations between speech and cognitive ability were statistically significant. As hypothesized, greater p ause mean values were significantly associated with poorer working memory and psychomotor performance, and fewer p ause numbers were associated with poorer psychomotor performance, but few other statistically correlations were observed.

Correlations between speech variables and positive/disorganization and negative symptom ratings and cognition scores.

Given the heterogeneity of symptoms included in the BPRS factor scores, correlations were separately computed between speech characteristics and individual BPRS symptom ratings. Generally, speaking, speech characteristics were not significantly related to BPRS items reflecting the prior month (e.g., depression, anxiety, hostility); only six of possible 168 correlations were statistically significant. In contrast, more significant correlations were observed in BPRS items based solely on interview behavior; 17 of 120. Nearly all of these correlations (16 of 19) were related to Blunted affect, emotional withdrawal and motor retardation. In general, these symptoms showed the same pattern of correlates as the SANS Flat affect and Alogia scores noted above, involving word count, pause length, pause N, intonation, intensity and idea and vocabulary density .

4. Discussion

There are five notable findings from this study. First, patients with SMI were deficient in nearly every aspect of speech production and content measured in this study. Second, consistent with prior studies ( Barch and Berenbaum, 1994 , Barch and Berenbaum 1996 , Cohen et al., 2012a , Cohen et al., 2014a , Tuček et al., 2012 ; Yin et al., 2007 ) depletion of cognitive resources resulted in people (both with and without SMI) producing less speech, and speech that was less semantically and lexically rich. Third, consistent with prior research (e.g., Cohen et al., 2012 ), patients with schizophrenia and those with affective disorders did not differ much in speech characteristics. Fourth, depletion of cognitive resources adversely affected the speech of SMI patients more so than controls in only one domain – involving average pause length. This was not simply a matter of controls producing more words or fewer pauses, as the groups were not abnormal in reduction in these variables under cognitive load. Finally, correlational analyses provided evidence of a link between cognitive deficits and average pause lengths.

Lack of significant interaction effects aside, cognitive resources were experimentally linked to poor speech production and content for patients (as in Barch and Berenbaum, 1994 , Barch and Berenbaum 1996 ), so clearly cognition plays an important role in these abilities. Thus, the present results suggest that relatively isolated facets of speech, namely involving production and content, are tied to cognitive resources in SMI patients in ways that other speech deficits (e.g., speech variability) may not be. From a clinical perspective, this suggests that alogia and blunted vocal affect, two cardinal negative symptoms in schizophrenia, may be mechanistically distinct. The relationship between cognition and speech production/content is not surprising in some ways, as many known cognitive domains are critical to these functions (e.g., language functions, verbal fluency, verbal memory). Moreover, it stands to reason that speech production and content, insofar as they are motivated and deliberate behaviors, require the sort of “on-line” attentional/working memory resources tapped in this study. What is not clear is if or why pause lengths are dependent on cognitive resources in ways other aspects of speech production aren’t. It could be that speech production is itself a mechanistically heterogeneous ability such that pause production has meaningfully different underpinnings than other aspects of speech production. Alternatively, it could be that pause length is simply a more sensitive measure for understanding cognitive resources than other aspects of speech production, which is why it showed significant group by condition interactions whereas other measures didn’t. Understanding how cognition is tied to speech production and content, and how they are mechanistically similar and different to other types of speech deficits (and other behavioral deficits) seems an important line for future research.

There are some important novel implications of a “cognitive-resource” theory of speech deficits in SMI. First, it seems reasonable to speculate that speech production deficits, at least in terms of abnormal pause lengths, may be ameliorated by improving cognitive resources in some manner. That is, by relieving cognitive resources limitations, for example, by employing cognitive compensation strategies (e.g., limiting activities requiring multi-tasking) or by bolstering capacity or efficiency more generally (e.g., cognitive remediation), it may be possible to relieve deficits in speech production and content. Relatedly, multi-tasking in potentially high risk situations (e.g., talking on the phone while driving) may be particularly dangerous for patients with SMI. Second, from an assessment perspective, the present data highlight the importance of context when assessing speech deficits. Speech is a dynamic phenomenon and varies considerably as a function of a range of variables. In this manner, it is important to consider cognitive demands when assessing speech. For example, the cognitive load, and consequent speech, involved in responding to relatively straightforward concrete questions (i.e., what did you have for lunch yesterday?) may be quite different than that associated with more abstract questions (i.e., what were you like as a child?). Ideally, deficits in speech production could be measured under controlled conditions where cognitive load can be directly controlled or manipulated – an important consideration as new measures of negative symptoms are being implemented ( Horan, et al., 2011 ; Kirkpatrick et al., 2011 ).

Several additional findings warrant discussion. The present study failed to replicate a prior finding that abnormal formant variability was associated with negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia ( Covington et al., 2012 ). Differences in speaking task across this prior study (i.e., involving one minute of speech extracted from a clinical interview), and the present study may be responsible. The present study also failed to replicate relationships between cognitive ability and measures of speech variability see in Cohen et al., (2012) . The present study used more sophisticated and precise measures of speech, and it is possible that the measures employed in the prior study were not independent of pause mean. Finally, in the present study, computer-based measures of speech were significantly correlated with clinical symptom ratings involving behavioral assessment but not to those involving month-long assessment epochs. These findings highlight that computer-based measures likely tap “state” symptoms as opposed to those reflecting longer time periods. This is an important consideration for adapting computer-based technology to clinical use.

The present study conceptualized cognition as a general construct reflecting “mental effort”, and it is presently unclear the degree to which specific cognitive abilities contribute to speech deficits. Clarifying this would be important for future research. Moreover, the present study did not employ a true “baseline” measure of speech, as even the baseline condition was cognitively taxing to some degree. This this may explain why patients were abnormal in many speech characteristics during this putatively “low” load task. Finally, the sample size in this study, while typical for a laboratory-based study of this kind, was modest. Limited power may explain some of the null findings. Despite these potential limitations, the present study found important links between cognition and speech deficits in SMI patients, and highlight the emerging utility of computerized analysis of speech for providing a mechanistic understanding of symptoms in this population.

Acknowledgments

Funding: Funding for this study was provided by a Louisiana Board of Regents and National Institute of Mental Health (R03 MH092622) grant to the primary author. The funding agencies had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

The authors wish to acknowledge the subjects for their participation, lab members for their help processing and collecting data and MMO Behavioral Health Systems for their assistance in subject outreach.

Contributors. Alex S Cohen was the primary investigator for this project and designed the study and wrote the bulk of the manuscript. Jessica McGovern, Thomas Dinzeo and Michael Covington helped manage the literature searches, the analyses and provided conceptual material to the planning and presentation of this project. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest: There are no conflicts of interest to report.

Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

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POVERTY OF SPEECH

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Psychic energizer, psychographics, psychoanalyst, psychodynamics, psychological scale 1, psychometrician.

6 Speech On Poverty You Should Know

According to the latest statistics on poverty, 8.6% of the world, or 736 million people, live in extreme poverty. As we all know, poverty is the state of being poor and lack of the means to provide necessary needs. Going by the basic definition of poverty, 736 million people lack the means to provide necessary needs and it shouldn’t be so.

In this article, we have collated a list of speeches on poverty to inspire the fight against poverty and also help you create wonderful content about poverty. These speeches on poverty were made by influential voices addressing the ever existing social issue, poverty.

Here are the 5 speech on poverty to inspire you to fight against poverty:

1.) Former U.N Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, Address on the International Day For The Eradication Of Poverty, 17 October.

In this address, Kofi Annan highlighted the need of working together to end poverty. He said: “But poverty is an old enemy with many faces. Defeating it will require many actors to work together.”

2.) Ban Ki-moon Speech At The 66th General Assembly .

On September 2011, the former U.N Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, gave a speech at the 66th General Assembly. In that speech, Ki-moon linked the fight for poverty to some important social issues. In his words: “Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth … these are one and the same fight.”.

“We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.” Ban Ki-moon also said in the speech.

3.) Nelson Mandela Make Poverty History Speech in Trafalgar Square

Nelson Mandela gave a speech about poverty in London’s Trafalgar Square on February 3, 2005. Just like most speeches about poverty, Nelson Mandela’s speech is where most quote about poverty comes from.

The former president of South Africa made an important point that poverty doesn’t only affect those who can barely provide their necessary needs but everyone, rich and poor. Mandela said: “As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality exist in our world, none of us can truly rest.”

He also noted that poverty is a denial of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. In his words: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.”

4.) Teva Sienicki TEDxMileHighWomen Speech

Teva Sienicki, president and CEO of nonprofit organization, Growing Home, which provides dual-generation programs to nurture children, strengthen families, and create community.

In Sienicki’s inspiring TEDx speech, she offers an efficient way to ending poverty. Sienick tells the world that we need to not just treat the symptoms of poverty, but treat the root causes of poverty.

Sienicki argues that one can end poverty by bringing equity and reforming systems in communities.

5.) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

In 1964, in a Nobel Peace Prize lecture which took place at Oslo, Norway, renowned American activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about poverty. He called on nations to end poverty. Martin Luther King Jr also argued that there’s no deficit in human resources but human will in the fight against poverty.

6.) Harry Belafonte Speech About Poverty

At a town hall in America, in the year 2005, Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, activist, and actor dubbed “King of Calypso”, Harry Belafonte gave a wonderful speech about poverty in America. Though, he was talking about poverty in America he made important points as regards to poverty. “We have to look at ourselves because I think the last frontier of truth and hope in this country are the people themselves.” Harry Belafonte says, calling for people to realize that we can bring the change we want.

Speech Poverty

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Speech on Poverty

Poverty is not just a lack of money, it’s a complex issue that touches many areas of life. It’s about not having enough food, a safe place to live, or access to basic services like education or healthcare.

You might think poverty only affects people in far-off places, but it’s closer than you think. Even in the wealthiest countries, many people struggle every day just to meet their basic needs.

1-minute Speech on Poverty

Hello, friends!

Let’s talk about a critical issue – poverty. It’s the state when people can’t get the basic things they need to live, like food, clothes, and a place to live. It’s a problem not just in one country or one region, but all over the world.

Imagine not knowing if you’ll eat today or not. Imagine wearing the same clothes every day, no matter if they’re torn or dirty. It’s a tough life, right? That’s what poverty looks like. Many people face this situation every day. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.

Now, why does poverty exist? Some people are born into poor families. Some lose their jobs and can’t find a new one. Sometimes, natural disasters like floods or earthquakes destroy everything they have. The reasons are many, and they’re all hard to control.

But there’s hope. We can all do something to help. We can donate clothes, food, or money to people in need. Schools can offer free meals to students from poor families. Companies can give jobs to those who can’t find work. Governments can build affordable houses for the homeless.

We can’t end poverty in one day. It’s a big task. But every small action counts. If every one of us does a little bit, we can make a big change. Remember, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

In the end, let’s not forget about poverty. Let’s keep talking about it, learning about it and doing what we can to help. Because in a world as rich as ours, no one should have to live in poverty. Thank you.

Also check:

Essay on Poverty

2-minute Speech on Poverty

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We’re here today to talk about a topic that is very real and very serious — poverty. Imagine not having enough food to eat, or a safe place to live, or even a warm sweater when it’s cold. That’s what poverty means. It’s when people don’t have the basic things they need to live a decent life.

In our modern world, it’s surprising that poverty still exists. It’s sad to see that in a world full of riches, some people go to bed hungry every night. In some parts of the world, kids don’t go to school because they can’t afford books or uniforms. They have to work instead, to help their families. It’s not fair, is it?

Poverty is like a big, scary monster. It’s not just about being hungry or cold. It affects people’s health too. When people are poor, they can’t afford to see a doctor or buy medicine. They get sick more often and stay sick longer. It makes life very hard and stressful.

But why does poverty exist? There are many reasons. Sometimes, it’s because of bad luck. Maybe there’s a drought, and the crops fail. Or maybe someone gets sick and can’t work. But often, it’s because of things that are unfair. Maybe some people have a lot of money and power, and they don’t share it with others. Or maybe the rules of the society are not fair, and they make it hard for poor people to improve their lives.

So, what can we do about poverty? It’s a big problem, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight it. We can start by being aware of the problem. We can learn about poverty and talk about it. And we can help. We can donate money or food to people who need it. We can also volunteer our time to help in soup kitchens or community centers. And we can make sure that our leaders know that we care about poverty, and we want them to do something about it.

Remember, every person can make a difference. You might think that you’re just one person, and you can’t do much. But that’s not true. If each one of us does a little bit, it adds up to a lot. And together, we can beat the monster of poverty.

In conclusion, poverty is a big problem, but not a hopeless one. We can beat it if we work together. Let’s all do our part and make the world a better place for everyone. Because everyone deserves a chance to live a good life, don’t they?

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We also have speeches on more interesting topics that you may want to explore.

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Eradicating extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 is a pivotal goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Extreme poverty, defined as surviving on less than $2.15 per person per day at 2017 purchasing power parity, has witnessed remarkable declines over recent decades.

However, the emergence of COVID-19 marked a turning point, reversing these gains as the number of individuals living in extreme poverty increased for the first time in a generation by almost 90 million over previous predictions.

Even prior to the pandemic, the momentum of poverty reduction was slowing down. By the end of 2022, nowcasting suggested that 8.4 per cent of the world’s population, or as many as 670 million people, could still be living in extreme poverty. This setback effectively erased approximately three years of progress in poverty alleviation.

If current patterns persist, an estimated 7% of the global population – around 575 million people – could still find themselves trapped in extreme poverty by 2030, with a significant concentration in sub-Saharan Africa.

A shocking revelation is the resurgence of hunger levels to those last observed in 2005. Equally concerning is the persistent increase in food prices across a larger number of countries compared to the period from 2015 to 2019. This dual challenge of poverty and food security poses a critical global concern.

Why is there so much poverty

Poverty has many dimensions, but its causes include unemployment, social exclusion, and high vulnerability of certain populations to disasters, diseases and other phenomena which prevent them from being productive.

Why should I care about other people’s economic situation?

There are many reasons, but in short, because as human beings, our well- being is linked to each other. Growing inequality is detrimental to economic growth and undermines social cohesion, increas- ing political and social tensions and, in some circumstances, driving instability and conflicts.

Why is social protection so important?

Strong social protection systems are essential for mitigating the effects and preventing many people from falling into poverty. The COVID-19 pandemic had both immediate and long-term economic consequences for people across the globe – and despite the expansion of social protection during the COVID-19 crisis, 55 per cent of the world’s population – about 4 billion people – are entirely unprotected.

In response to the cost-of-living crisis, 105 countries and territories announced almost 350 social protection measures between February 2022 and February 2023. Yet 80 per cent of these were short-term in nature, and to achieve the Goals, countries will need to implement nationally appropriate universal and sustainble social protection systems for all.

What can I do about it?

Your active engagement in policymaking can make a difference in addressing poverty. It ensures that your rights are promoted and that your voice is heard, that inter-generational knowledge is shared, and that innovation and critical thinking are encouraged at all ages to support transformational change in people’s lives and communities.

Governments can help create an enabling environment to generate pro- productive employment and job opportunities for the poor and the marginalized.

The private sector has a major role to play in determining whether the growth it creates is inclusive and contributes to poverty reduction. It can promote economic opportunities for the poor.

The contribution of science to end poverty has been significant. For example, it has enabled access to safe drinking water, reduced deaths caused by water-borne diseases, and improved hygiene to reduce health risks related to unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation.

Facts and Figures

Goal 1 targets.

If current trends continue, 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty and only one-third of countries will have halved their national poverty levels by 2030.
Despite the expansion of social protection during the COVID-19 crisis, over 4 billion people remain entirely unprotected. Many of the world’s vulnerable population groups, including the young and the elderly, remain uncovered by statutory social protection programmes.
The share of government spending on essential services, such as education, health and social protection, is significantly higher in advanced economies than in emerging and developing economies.
A surge in action and investment to enhance economic opportunities, improve education and extend social protection to all, particularly the most excluded, is crucial to delivering on the central commitment to end poverty and leave no one behind.
The global poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 is revised slightly up by 0.1 percentage points to 8.5 percent, resulting in a revision in the number of poor people from 648 to 659 million. ( World Bank)

Source: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023

1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $2.15 a day

1.2 By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions

1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable

1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance

1.5 By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters

1.A Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions

1.B Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions

United Nations Development Programme
UN Children’s Fund
International Monetary Fund
UN Global Compact
UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

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John Swinney: What does SNP leader's keynote speech tell us about his priorities? Economy, Greens, immigration, Labour

John Swinney has told business leaders he and Kate Forbes are putting economic growth at the centre of government.

First Minister John Swinney has appealed to Scotland’s business community to put faith in his government to grow the economy.

Speaking on Friday in his first major speech since become First Minister, the SNP leader attempted to re-set the Scottish Government’s relationship with business, making clear his key ambitions, including eradicating child poverty and reliant on a steady and growing economy.

Addressing business leaders at Barclay’s Glasgow campus on the banks of the Clyde, Mr Swinney stressed his ministers would focus on “more concrete actions and fewer strategy documents” as he moved to distance himself from the Scottish Greens ’ time in government.

Economy crucial to tackling poverty

Mr Swinney has made no secret of his aim to eradicate child poverty, but his predecessor did the same. Mr Swinney, however, has made clear that ambitions cannot succeed without a stable and growing economy to back it up.

In a similar fashion to the economic benefits of net zero being made clear in recent years, the Scottish Government is adamant that business and investment is needed to tackle social policy aims. Mr Swinney has been blunt about the state of public finances he has inherited, warning they were “not going to be sufficient to meet all of our ambitions and aspirations”.

In a bid to make clear the importance of the private sector, the First Minister said “the attraction of private capital is a very real and material necessity”. Mr Swinney’s pitch to business is that if his Government helps them grow the economy, it will result in better achieving political priorities.

No Greens in sight

Mr Swinney had his hands all over the Bute House Agreement – he was one of the key architects of Nicola Sturgeon’s co-operation deal with the Greens. But those days are firmly behind him.

Without specifically pointing the finger at his predecessor and the Greens, Mr Swinney stressed he was “facing the future” with a “focus on economic growth”.

Some businesses have been spooked by policies the Greens shouted about during their time in government – rent controls, now-scrapped plans for highly protected marine areas and the doomed deposit return scheme, even though it was a key SNP policy.

So without heaping blame on the Greens and Humza Yousaf, the First Minister has attempted to place himself and his deputy first minister as more sensible economic politicians.

A key admission by Mr Swinney was that despite backing higher taxation on higher earners, he bluntly told business leaders that “you can’t continually increase tax”, warning that is not possible.

Immigration rules could unlock jobs markets

The First Minister warned that a lot rested on the UK government changing its stance on immigration, particularly for workers and students. He stressed Tory ministers were “celebrating making it harder for overseas masters students to study in the United Kingdom and for overseas care staff to work in the UK”.

He said: “I find that astonishing as a First Minister wrestling with a social care crisis in our communities and the necessity to encourage and fuel the dynamism of our universities.”

Mr Swinney told business leaders “it is in Scotland’s interests to have a more generous system, not a tighter one” and called for students to be allow to stay and work for five years after graduating to encourage the “best and brightest” to remain.

The SNP has made no secret of its opposition to Brexit. But Mr Swinney called for a “return to the approach of European freedom of movement”, something he thinks is more likely through an independent Scotland.

The FM told business chiefs that “we’ve got a problem, we’ve got a real problem about population and that’s because of Brexit, its calamitous implications for us and this uber-hostile towards migration”.

Acknowledging that Scotland’s working age population is in decline and key sectors are facing recruitment crises are statements that have chimed with business leaders. But with many of the potential solutions reliant on Westminster, there is little certainty about fixing that issue that can be given by the First Minister.

An open door to a Labour UK government?

Fresh from blasting Tory Scottish Secretary Alister Jack’s “menacing behaviour” over nuclear power plans, Mr Swinney left the door open to a more sensible relationship between his administration and an incoming Labour government at Westminster.

Crucially, the default, in Mr Swinney’s mind at least, appears to be the Scottish and UK governments under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership could work much more productively.

He told The Scotsman that he wanted to have “good, constructive, sensible engagement with the United Kingdom government” and looked back to the Conservative-LibDems coalition between 2010 and 2015, which he said had “a good, constructive, respectful relationship” with SNP ministers.

But Mr Swinney warned that Holyood and devolution had been “treated with disrespect by the UK government since 2019”.

He said: “I hope that an incoming Labour government will be willing to engage constructively with us and I don’t see any reason why not.”

Working hand-in-hand is likely to be crucial if Scotland is to boost the economy, given that Sir Keir has pledged to make the country the epicentre of his green energy plans. But with tough fiscal conservative rules being adhered to by Labour, the level of investment and public expenditure may not be enough to make an immediate difference.

John Swinney: What does SNP leader's keynote speech tell us about his priorities? Economy, Greens, immigration, Labour

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Poverty of Speech: What Is Alogia a Sign of?
Living with poverty of speech may mean you offer short, single-word answers. Poverty of content could seem like vague, incoherent rambles. This process of communication isn't by choice.
Alogia (Poverty of Speech): Symptoms, Risks, Causes & Treatment
Alogia, also known as poverty of speech, can make speaking difficult. ... That's where words and their meaning are stored. Parts of your brain may have problems "talking" to each together ...
Alogia (Poverty of Speech): What It Is, Symptoms & Risks
Alogia. Alogia is a symptom that causes you to speak less, say fewer words or only speak in response to others. This symptom can happen when disruptions in brain structure or activity interfere with your motivation to speak and how you use emotions in communication with others. It's usually a symptom of mental health conditions or ...
Alogia
Alogia. In psychology, alogia ( / ˌeɪˈloʊdʒiə, əˈloʊdʒiə, əˈlɒdʒiə, - dʒə /; from Greek ἀ-, "without", and λόγος, "speech" + New Latin -ia) [1] [2] [3] is poor thinking inferred from speech and language usage. [4] There may be a general lack of additional, unprompted content seen in normal speech, so replies to ...
What Is Alogia?
Alogia comes from the Greek words meaning "without speech" and refers to a poverty of speech that results from impairment in thinking that affects language abilities. More specifically, it involves using fewer words, answering only what is directly asked, and speaking in a way that may be vague, repetitive, or overly concrete.
What Is Alogia (Poverty of Speech)?
Alogia, also referred to as poverty of speech, is a speech disturbance common to several mental and neurological conditions including dementia, schizophrenia, and some mood disorders. 1 It is the reduction in the quantity and quality of speech, and is usually caused by brain abnormalities. Alogia may be treated with a combination of medication ...
Thought Disorder
Poverty of content of speech: adequate speech quantity with prominent vagueness and inappropriate level of abstraction; Pressure of speech: increased rate and quantity of speech; speech may be loud and difficult to interrupt ... Clanging: speech in which word choice is governed by word sound rather than meaning; word choice may show rhyming or ...
GoodTherapy
Poverty of speech is a common symptom of schizophrenia, and may co-occur with poverty of content-a symptom in which a person provides extensive verbal feedback that contains little useful ...
GoodTherapy
Poverty of content is a speech problem wherein a person talks a lot but does not say anything substantive, or says much more than is necessary to convey a message. For example, when a person ...
APA Dictionary of Psychology
poverty of speech. Updated on 04/19/2018. excessively brief speech with few elaborations that occurs in schizophrenia or occasionally in a major depressive episode. It is distinct from poverty of content of speech, in which the quality of speech is diminished.
POVERTY OF SPEECH
POVERTY OF SPEECH. excessively short speech with minimal elaborations which takes place in schizophrenia or sometimes in the framework of a major depressive event. It is different from poverty of content of speech, wherein the quality of speech is reduced. Cite this page: N., Sam M.S., "POVERTY OF SPEECH," in PsychologyDictionary.org, April 7 ...
Speech Deficits in Serious mental Illness: A Cognitive Resource Issue?
Speech deficits, notably those involved in psychomotor retardation, blunted affect, alogia and poverty of content of speech, are pronounced in a wide range of serious mental illnesses (e.g., schizophrenia, unipolar depression, bipolar disorders). The present project evaluated the degree to which these deficits manifest as a function of ...
POVERTY OF SPEECH Definition, History and Characteristics
excessively short speech with minimal elaborations which takes place in schizophrenia or sometimes in the framework of a major depressive event. It is different from poverty of content of speech, wherein the quality of speech is reduced.
poverty of speech
poverty of speech (pov-er-ti) n. brief hesitant speech using few words (often monosyllables) and lacking spontaneity. It occurs in patients with schizophrenia and depression. ... Dysarthria, Definition Dysarthria is a group of speech impairments due to weakness, incoordination, spasticity, rigidity, or irregular movements caused by damage ...
APA Dictionary of Psychology
poverty of content of speech. speech that is adequate in quantity but too vague, repetitious, and lacking in content to be qualitatively adequate. It is frequently observed in schizophrenia and is distinct from poverty of speech, in which the quantity of speech is diminished.
6 Speech On Poverty You Should Know
According to the latest statistics on poverty, 8.6% of the world, or 736 million people, live in extreme poverty. As we all know, poverty is the state of being poor and lack of the means to provide necessary needs. Going by the basic definition of poverty, 736 million people lack the means to provide necessary needs and it shouldn't be so.
Speech Poverty
Speech Poverty. Share on Facebook; Share on Twitter; Share by Email; New Findings Show Dopamine's Complex Role in Schizophrenia 5th January 2017. Schizophrenia: Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia Study Notes. Schizophrenia: Symptom Overlap Study Notes. Example Answers for Schizophrenia: A Level Psychology, Paper 3, June 2019 (AQA) ...
8 powerful quotes from Mandela's 'Make Poverty History' speech
6. "Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. 7. "While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.". 8. "Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.".
Speech on Poverty
1-minute Speech on Poverty. Hello, friends! Let's talk about a critical issue - poverty. It's the state when people can't get the basic things they need to live, like food, clothes, and a place to live. It's a problem not just in one country or one region, but all over the world. Imagine not knowing if you'll eat today or not.
Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
The global poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 is revised slightly up by 0.1 percentage points to 8.5 percent, resulting in a revision in the number of poor people from 648 to 659 million. ( World Bank)
Poverty
poverty, the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs. In this context, the identification of poor people first requires a determination of what constitutes basic needs. These may be defined as narrowly as ...
Address by Nelson Mandela for the "Make Poverty History" Campaign
Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times - times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation - that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils. The Global Campaign for Action Against Poverty can take its place as a public ...
War on Poverty
War on Poverty, expansive social welfare legislation introduced in the 1960s by the administration of U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and intended to help end poverty in the United States. It was part of a larger legislative reform program, known as the Great Society, that Johnson hoped would make the United States a more equitable and just country.
John Swinney: What does SNP leader's keynote speech tell us about his
Speaking on Friday in his first major speech since become First Minister, the SNP leader attempted to re-set the Scottish Government's relationship with business, making clear his key ambitions ...

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Speech Deficits in Serious mental Illness: A Cognitive Resource Issue?

Jessica E. McGovern

Michael A. Covington

1. Introduction

2.1. Participants

2.2. Diagnostic and Symptom Ratings

2.3. Speech Tasks

2.4. Speech Production and Speech Variability

2.5. Cognition Ability

2.6. Analyses

3.1. Zero-Order Correlations

3.2 Demographic and Descriptive Variables

3.3. Group Comparisons on Speech Characteristics

3.4. Speech Characteristics, Symptoms and Cognitive Ability

4. Discussion

Acknowledgments

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6 Speech On Poverty You Should Know

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Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Why is there so much poverty

Why should I care about other people’s economic situation?

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John Swinney: What does SNP leader's keynote speech tell us about his priorities? Economy, Greens, immigration, Labour

READ MORE: Does John Swinney’s fury at ‘menacing’ Alister Jack mean Scottish and UK governments will keep squabbling?

Economy crucial to tackling poverty

No Greens in sight

Immigration rules could unlock jobs markets

An open door to a Labour UK government?

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