Prosody and motor speech disorders: a retrospective review of a merger that is imminent

Even though prosody figures prominently in the classification and differential diagnosis of motor speech disorders, the theoretical frame works in which prosody and motor speech disorders have evolved have limited a full integration or merging of these domains. The Mayo Classification continues to be the gold standard and differentiates the motors speech disorders in terms of audible speech deviations including prosody. While briefly challenged by a prosodic classification of the motor speech disorders (Kent and Rosenbek, 1982), it was not until theoretical advances in normal prosody culminated in an objective measurement approach that shows promise to complement the audio-perceptual approach and map the prosodic landscape in motor speech disorders.