telegraphic speech

A style of SPEECH production in which FUNCTION WORDS and INFLECTIONAL endings tend to be omitted; earlier, also called telegrammatic speech. The term derives from the written style used in the days when pay-by-the-word telegrams were a common method of communication (Send cheque Brighton), and is still used to describe any ELLIPTICAL written style (e.g. in newspaper headlines or want-ads); but in linguistics it is more commonly encountered in relation to the SENTENCE STRUCTURES found in young children’s speech (me kick ball) and the reduced range of grammatical expression typical of one form of aphasia.