science

Tangential speech

Tangential speech is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tangential speech rather than just read about it. In short: Tangential speech or tangentiality is a communication disorder in which the train of thought of the speaker wanders and shows a lack of focus, never returning to the initial topic of the conversation. It commonly occurs in situations where an individual experiences high anxiety, as a manifestation of acute psychosis, dementia, or states of delirium.

Key takeaways

Tangential speech belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tangential speech to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tangential speech from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tangential speech or tangentiality is a communication disorder in which the train of thought of the speaker wanders and shows a lack of focus, never returning to the initial topic of the conversation. It commonly occurs in situations where an individual experiences high anxiety, as a manifestation of acute psychosis, dementia, or states of delirium. It is less severe than logorrhea and may be associated with the middle stage in dementia. It is, however, more severe than circumstantial speech, in which the speaker wanders but eventually returns to the topic. Some adults with right hemisphere brain damage exhibit tangential speech. Those who exhibit tangential speech may also have related symptoms, such as seemingly inappropriate, self-centered social responses and deteriorations in conversation capabilities (including maintaining appropriate eye contact and staying on topic).

Definition The term refers simplistically to a thought disorder shown from speech with a lack of observance to the main subject of discourse, such that a person whilst speaking on a topic deviates from the topic. Further definition is of speech that deviates from an answer to a question that is relevant in the first instance but deviates from the relevancy to related subjects not involved in a direct answering of the question. In the context of a conversation or discussion the communication is a response that is ineffective in that the form is inappropriate for adequate understanding. The person's speech seems to indicate that their attention to their own speech has perhaps in some way been overcome during the occurrence of cognition whilst speaking, causing the vocalized content to follow thought that is apparently without reference to the original idea or question; or the person's speech is considered evasive in that the person has decided to provide an answer to a question that is an avoidance of a direct answer.

History The earlier phenomenological description (Schneider et al. 1930) allowed for further definition on the basis of formal characteristic rather than content, producing later practice relying upon clinical assessment (Andreasen 1979). The term has undergone a redefinition to refer only to a person's speech in response to a question, and to provide the definition separation from the similar symptoms loosening of association and derailment (Andreasen 1979).

Other According to the St. Louis system for the diagnosis of schizophrenia, tangentiality is significantly associated with a low IQ prior to diagnosis (AU Parnas et al 2007).

See also Aphasia Circumstantial speech Theories of communication Harold Lasswell

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tangential speech

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tangential speech claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tangential speech before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tangential speech ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tangential speech

In research: Tangential speech appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tangential speech in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tangential speech is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aphasias, Communication disorders, Delirium, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tangential speech outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tangential speech in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tangential speech means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tangential speech out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tangential speech in simple terms?

Why does Tangential speech matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tangential speech?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tangential speech.