Analysts say decline in Donald Trump’s speaking style could point to deterioration in health

Researchers found a big difference between Trump interviews of today and ones he gave in the 80s and 90s

US President Donald Trump arrives for a welcome ceremony for the G7 summit in the Ancient Theatre of Taormina (AP)

The way Donald Trump’s speaking style has changed over the decades could point to a deterioration in the health of his brain, it has been claimed.

Researchers from the medical science website Stat analysed interviews the US President has given spanning decades, and then asked psychologists, psychiatrists and experts in cognitive assessment and neurolinguistics to assess the results.

According to Stat, the experts noted a significant change in the manner in which Mr Trump gave unscripted answers 30 years ago compared to now.

In some cases the difference was so pronounced that it led the experts to question the health of Mr Trump's brain.

In interviews in the 1980s, Mr Trump was noted as using sophisticated vocabulary and speaking articulately.

More recently, the President’s vocabulary is simpler, he repeats himself often and tends to jump from one subject to another.

The researchers suggested linguistic decline of this nature could be due to a number of factors, including anger, frustration, fatigue or stress.

Ben Michaelis, a psychologist who performs cognitive assessments on behalf of the New York Supreme Court, said there were “clearly” changes in Mr Trump’s speech.

“[There is a] clear reduction in linguistic sophistication over time,” with “simpler word choices and sentence structure. … In fairness to Trump, he’s 70, so some decline in his cognitive functioning over time would be expected,” Mr Michaelis said.

The news comes as Mr Trump arrived in Italy for a welcome ceremony for the G7 summit.

He had previously been in Brussels to meet with European leaders, at the end of a first presidential international tour which included Israel and Saudi Arabia.