Situational variations in disfluencies in bilingual person with no stuttering and person with stuttering

Abstract

Introduction: Literature evidence that “Disfluency” is normal, nonstuttered disruptions can be seen in nonstutterers, whereas “Dysfluency” refers to stuttered interruptions of speech common in stutterers. Variation of dis/dysfluencies may vary according to situation and language. The existing evidence is limited for explaining the variation of stuttering (dysfluency) or stuttering-like behaviors (disfluency) across different daily life situations and based on langue use in a person with stuttering (PWS) and person with no stuttering (PWNS). The aim was to compare self-reported situational variations of dis/dysfluencies in L1 and L2 among bilingual PWNS as well as bilingual PWS. The study design involves a comparative study. Method: Participants in the age range of 18–24 years were considered in two groups that are a group of PWS and PWNS. In both groups, 112 were recruited (85 were PWNS and 27 were PWS). For the PWS group, individuals with developmental stuttering with a severity above a mild degree, as assessed on SSI-4 by a speech-language pathologist, were selected. As the study tool, a self-reported questionnaire was prepared and administered to check the situational variation of dis/dysfluencies among the participants (for both L1 and L2), which included their rating (0–5 Likert scale). Descriptive statistics and repeated ANOVA were done. Results: Outcomes revealed that there was a significant difference seen in the frequency of dis/dysfluencies when situations in L1 and situations in L2 were compared, respectively, in PWNS and also when L1 and L2 were compared in PWNS, whereas there were no significant differences seen when situations in L1 and situations in L2 were compared, respectively, in PWS and also when L1 and L2 were compared in PWS. Conclusion: Further Investigation on the topic of situational variation of dys/ disfluency could be attempted considering more daily life situations.