An Experimental Study of Some Properties of Stuttered Words

Effects of word frequency and phonological neighborhood characteristics on confrontation naming in children who stutter and normally fluent peers

“…In childhood, high-frequency words, such as function words, are very likely to be stuttered (Bloodstein, 1960;Bernstein, 1981). In adults, when frequency is controlled for, nouns tend to be stuttered less in conversational speech than other content words, such as verbs and modifiers (Quarrington, Conway, & Siegel, 1962). The phonological shape of words does not appear to exert systematic effects on stutter frequency across age groups, languages or ostensibly vulnerable subpopulations of people who stutter, such as children with developmental articulation errors (see summary in Bernstein Ratner, 2005, but also an opposing viewpoint voiced by Howell & Dworzynski, 2005).…”

The Role of Selected Lexical Factors on Confrontation Naming Accuracy, Speed, and Fluency in Adults Who Do and Do Not Stutter

“…Words that are less common in the language are more likely to be stuttered (Danzger & Halpern, 1973;Hubbard & Prins, 1994;Palen & Peterson, 1982;Prins, Main, & Wampler, 1997;Ronson, 1976;Soderberg, 1966). When frequency is controlled for, nouns tend to be stuttered less in conversational speech than other content words (Quarrington, Conway, & Siegel, 1962). In contrast, few regular and systematic phonological factors appear to be associated with elevated stutter frequency (see Bernstein Ratner, 2005), other than a typical finding that vowels are often stuttered less in adult speech than consonants (see summary in Quarrington et al, 1962).…”

Integrated Analysis of Stuttering Using a Simple Conceptual Model

“…The same analysis applies to tire description of stuttering as being, above all, a difficulty of getting started. Studies show that the amount of stuttering is larger for tire beginning word in a sentence (Quarrington et al, 1962;Quarrington, 1965), stuttering on tire last word being rare. It is also known that lead-ins, where an unnecessary word is spoken prior to and in the same breath as the feared word, are effective.…”