Syllabic stress and variability: A model of stuttering

Abstract

AbstractWingate suggested that prosody has an important role in stuttering, particularly in treatment for the disorder. Results of recent research by the authors indicate that alteration of one aspect of prosody, namely syllabic stress, is a feature of some behavioural stuttering treatments and that this may contribute to stuttering reduction. It is thought that people who stutter have unstable speech systems that may be disrupted by variability, and it is suggested that the production of stress contrasts is a source of such variability. We present a model that suggests that stuttering decreases when people who stutter decrease the variability with which they typically produce syllabic stress. As well as explaining the role of syllabic stress in stuttering reduction, the model implies that the development of variable stress induces stuttering in those children whose motor systems are susceptible to variability. The model also explains some of the phenomenology of stuttering and challenges some long-held beliefs about the disorder.Key Words: stutteringsyllable stressvariabilityvowel length