Pii: S0191-8869(98)00189-5

Although there has been much speculation about psychopaths' distinctive use of speech, to date there have been no published data documenting that psychopaths communicate any di€erently than others. This study examined the clinical observation that psychopathic speech is poorly integrated compared to that of controls. 39 inmates from a Wisconsin state penitentiary were asked to produce two stories. Cohesion analysis was used to measure how well integrated the narratives were. As predicted by Williamson [Williamson, S. E. (1991). Cohesion and coherence in the speech of psychopathic criminals. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of British Colombia.], psychopathy was associated with a tendency to use fewer cohesive ties per clause. Contrary to the Williamson (1991) predictions, however, psychopaths did not use more incompetent references than controls. Despite its limitations, this study provides a foundation for future work elucidating psychopathic speech. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.