When someone with dementia speaks in made-up words that sound like nonsense, it can be confusing and even heartbreaking. But what’s really happening isn’t stubbornness or random confusion—it’s a breakdown in the brain’s language system. These made-up words are called neologisms, and when most of someone’s speech is filled with them, we call it jargon. This often happens in the later stages of dementia or with conditions like primary progressive aphasia or frontotemporal dementia. Even if the wor