To date, limited research has been reported on stuttering and bilingualism. Existing data reports conflicting results on stuttering characteristics across languages of bilingual people who stutter (PWS). Investigations to date include language acquisition, language proficiency, cultural influence, and linguistic as well as phonetic aspects in bilinguals PWS. Thus, assumptions on causal factors of stuttering are plenty, but research is missing to either support or refute those assumptions. Small sample sizes have been an additional obstacle. The purpose of this study was to analyse stuttering characteristics in German - English bilingual PWS. 15 German - English bilingual PWS, ranging in age between 10 and 59 years (mean = 25) were investigated. For all of the participants, German was acquired first (L1) and English second (L2). L2 exposure ranged from 5 to 20+ years (mean = 10). 15 minute conversational speech samples were collected in each language. In addition, an English proficiency test (Cloze Test) and a post-conversational questionnaire were administered. Analysis focused on differences in stuttering severity across languages, the distribution of stuttered content and function words across languages, and possible relationships between L2 proficiency and stuttering. Results indicated significantly more stuttering in L1 compared to L2. In L1, stuttering occurred significantly more often on content words. In L2, no significant difference between stuttering on function and content words was observed. For percentage of syllables stuttered, across language analysis detected significantly more stuttering on content words in German (L1) and more stuttering on function words in English (L2). No direct correlations between stuttering and language proficiency have been found. Results are discussed in light of current theories of stuttering and relationships to past findings are drawn.

Past research investigating stuttering has cited atypical cerebral lateralization in adults who stutter (AWS) during speech production. The purpose of this study was to measure cerebral activation in AWS as indicated by lip asymmetry. The study included five AWS (mean age = 26 years of age) and five adults who do not stutter (AWNS) (mean age = 25 years of age). The tasks included single-word productions, single-sentence readings and lip pursings. The peak electromyographic (EMG) amplitude was determined for the left upper, right upper, left lower and right lower lip quadrants around the mouth. Overall, EMG amplitudes were higher for the lower lip than the upper lip. Based on examination of peak EMG amplitude, significant differences were found between speaker groups. For both speech and non-speech tasks, the highest EMG amplitude for the AWS and AWNS groups were on the left lower and right lower sides of the mouth, respectively. The AWNS group showed strong correlations in EMG activity across the four lip sites (r>0.97), indicating an overall synchronous lip activity during speech and non-speech tasks. In contrast, the AWS group showed a strong correlation (r=0.97) only for the left upper and left lower lips while the other lip pairings were not strongly correlated (r<0.738) indicating otherwise reduced synchronous lip activity. While the small sample size suggests caution, clear differences in the pattern of lip EMG activity demonstrated in the present study provides evidence of differences between AWS and AWNS in the cerebral activation governing lip movement. The greater left lip activity observed in AWS was indicative of greater right hemisphere cerebral activation while increased right lip activity was indicative of greater left hemisphere participation in AWNS. The results of the present study provided support for the hypotheses of reversed lateralization for speech and non-speech processing and reduced coordination of speech musculature in AWS.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 139 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-91).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1947. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [i]-IX).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1985. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-68).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), University of Hong Kong, April 30, 1992. Also available in print.

Until this time, few studies have examined differences in durational characteristics in words surrounding a moment of stuttering for untreated preschool children. It is important to determine whether or not untreated preschoolers' who stutter alter the duration of their speech when they stutter versus when they are fluent to determine what factors influence stuttering behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the duration of words immediately before and after a stuttered word and the duration of the matched target word in the identical fluent utterance. The following questions were to be addressed: 1) Is there a significant durational difference between a word preceding a stuttered word and the duration of the same word in a corresponding fluent utterance? 2) Is there a significant durational difference between a word following a stuttered word and the duration of the same word in a corresponding fluent utterance? Three subjects between the ages of 4 years, 6 months and 6 years, 11 months who had never received treatment participated. Subjects were recorded using a delayed imitation task, elicited from 60 action pictures in the Patterned Elicited Syntax Test, (PEST} two times in succession with a five minute rest period between elicited utterances. Phrases and sentences containing a stuttered word and identical elicited fluent utterances were used for analysis. The duration of the following words in milliseconds (msec.) were calculated using the CSRE 4.2 software program: l} The duration of the word immediately preceding a stuttered event within the same utterance (BSTUT}. 2) The duration of the same word in the identical fluent utterance (BNSTUT). 3) The duration of the word immediately following a stuttered event within the same utterance (ASTUT) . 4) The duration of the same word in the identical fluent utterance (ANSTUT) . A total of 44 samples were obtained. A two tailed ttest was completed at the .05 confidence level to determine the significance between the BSTUT vs. BNSTUT and ASTUT vs. ANSTUT word pairs. Results did not find statistically significant differences.

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