An analysis of stroboscopic variations in a normal sample has been created. To most sub-specialized laryngologists and voice therapists, the results confirm primarily anecdotal experience concerning the nature of the various stroboscopic findings. The analysis provides epidemiologic data inferring the normalcy, or likelihood of pathology, of non-symmetric stroboscopic variations, thus providing evidence in support of intervention, or observation. This analysis may serve as a foundation, promoting further analyses of targeted populations for further epidemiological, normative, and descriptive purposes. For many otolaryngologists just beginning to use videostroboscopy, this analysis illustrates the wide range of normal variations, and provides a reference point from which presumed abnormal findings may be compared. For the voice researcher, the results may encourage modeling of common stroboscopic variations, to provide a more accurate representation of the intricate and complex physiology of normal voice production.

An increasing amount of evidence suggests that both cerebral hemispheres contribute to the comprehension of semantic relations. A literature review of language abilities after right hemisphere (RH) damage reveals abnormalities in the interpretation of lexical items that have alternate meanings (Chiarello, 1991). Two major theories have been proposed to account for the lexical-semantic deficits observed in RH damaged (RHD) individuals, namely the "suppression deficit" and the "coarse semantic coding" hypotheses. By exploiting the theoretical linguistic distinction of lexical ambiguity into homonymy, metaphor and metonymy, the present investigation attempts to directly contrast the predictions of the two hypotheses. To this end, two on-line priming studies were developed, each comprising two experiments conducted with RHD patients, individuals with nonfluent aphasia subsequent to left hemisphere damage (LHD) and non-brain-damaged control participants (NC). / The first single-word priming study showed that, for all three subject groups (NC, LHD, RHD), the multiple meanings of homonymous and metonymous words can be triggered and accessed out of context, whereas for metaphorical words, context seems to be necessary in order to access secondary metaphorical meanings. The second sentence priming study showed that the RHD patients' performance contrasts with the performance of the normal control and LHD non-fluent aphasic subjects who showed both effects of context and the time-course of processing, as well as comparable processing across the three types of ambiguous words. For the RHD patients, although homonymous and metonymous words showed relatively normal patterns of activation, the subordinate meanings of metaphors were not activated, suggesting a selective problem with figurative meanings. / Taken together, these findings suggest that the lexical ambiguity processing deficit observed after RH damage is mostly evident when processing subordinate meanings of metaphorically ambiguous words (even in the presence of biasing context), although a lesion in one hemisphere does not completely disrupt the ability of individuals to appreciate the alternative meanings of ambiguous words at the single-word level. The findings were contrary to the strongest expectations of both the "coarse semantic coding" and the "suppression deficit" hypotheses of RH language abilities; however, they seem to be more consistent with a weaker version of the "suppression deficit" hypothesis according to which RH damage leads to deficits in contextual integration and selection of appropriate meanings.

The goal of this study was to predict accuracy of consonant production by French-speaking children with speech sound disorders. Articulatory complexity and phoneme frequency was examined in relation to the child's profile of motor or perceptual difficulties. The participants were preschoolers receiving speech therapy. Three had difficulties in the motor domain and five had difficulties with speech perception. The percentage of consonants correct on the Test of French Phonology, developed for this study, was calculated. For both groups, the best predictor was the phoneme's articulatory complexity combined with its phonological context but phoneme frequency was not predictive. The Motor Group had more difficulty with one- and four-syllable words and syllable onsets than the Perceptual Group whereas the Perceptual Group demonstrated lower accuracy for consonants in the syllable coda position. Non-linear phonology as the theoretical framework for the development of the Test of French Phonology was validated. / L'objectif de cette étude était de prédire la justesse articulatoire (JA) d'enfants francophones ayant un trouble primaire de l'articulation. La complexité articulatoire et la fréquence d'occurrence des consonnes ont été examinées en lien avec le profile de difficultés des participants. Tous étaient d'âge préscolaire et recevaient des services en orthophonie; trois avaient des difficultés motrices et cinq des difficultés perceptuelles. Le pourcentage de consonnes correctes au Test Francophone de Phonologie (TFP), développé pour cette étude, a été calculé. Pour les deux groupes, le meilleur élément prédisant la JA était la combinaison de la complexité articulatoire du phonème et son contexte phonologique, et la fréquence d'occurrence était non-prédictive. Les enfants avec difficultés motrices avaient une JA inférieure pour les mots d'une ou quatre syllables et les attaques, contrairement aux enfants avec difficultés perceptuelles dont la JA était plus faible pour les codas. L'utilisation de la phonologie non-linéaire comme base théorique du TFP est validée.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of listener requests for clarification on dysfluency behavior and information content of stutterers' and nonstutterers' responses. Subjects were 40 boys (20 stutterers and 20 nonstutterers) between the ages of 5;0-6;8 years and 8;5-10;0 years. Two listener requests, "What?" and "I don't understand" were delivered on a time contingent basis during a one-hour conversation with the subject. Fluency and dysfluency measures included frequency and duration of stuttered words, within-word dysfluencies, pauses, and speech rate. Repair strategies were coded according to information content. Results indicated that responding to requests for clarification significantly decreased the frequency of dysfluencies for both groups. Stutterers were similar to nonstutterers in information content of repair strategy. Groups differed on pause measures, and there was a tendency for older children's fluency to be more disrupted by requests. Older children also used significantly more information in their responses to "I don't understand".

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 100 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-76).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: B, page: 6749. Adviser: Ruth Watkins. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-151) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: B, page: 6748. Advisers: Adrienne L. Perlman; Bradley P. Sutton. Includes bibliographical references. Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

DISSERTATION (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Thesis (Educat.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1983. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-11, Section: B, page: 3373.