What is pedantic speech?
Pedantic describes speech that is overly focused on the details of its topic. It is speech that appears to list details about a topic one after the other. In a person with Asperger’s, this type of speech does not appear to be impacted by the environment (such as by the nonverbal cues of others), and therefore seems less conversational and more like a monologue. This includes the person’s likely idiosyncratic, or unusual use of words, e.g., a “Hoover for the face” being used for razor (Attwood, 2003), or tendency to make up words to communicate their thoughts. The volume of the person’s speech may be off – either too loud or too quiet for the environment or situation. The person with Asperger’s may also vocalize his or her thoughts rather than keeping those thoughts to themselves.