In psychiatry, stilted speech or pedantic speech is a symptom exhibited through a person's communication of a thought disorder in schizophrenia indicated by speech content that is "inappropriately pompous, legalistic, philosophical, or quaint".
This form of symptom occurs less occasionally, or is present at relatively lower levels in cases of schizophrenia than a certain number of other symptoms of the psychosis (Adler et al 1999). This element of cognitive disorder is also exhibited as a symptom in the narcissistic personality disorder (Akhtar & Thomson 1982). (There is a non-agreement of definition of psychophenomonology within the discipline of psychiatry, e.g. published sources provide definitions that are "various and sometimes conflicting (Rule 2005)" (Andreasen 1979). )
Stilted speech (without comorbid psychotic features) may also be present in some patients with schizotypal personality disorder or autism spectrum disorders, as a kind of stereotypic behavior.
In its more common usage, "stilted speech" is a term used to describe overly-formal, unnatural-sounding speech.