Interest in gesture production has considerably increased in recent decades, yet few studies have examined the preschool population. Even fewer studies have examined the intriguing interaction between motor skills and gesture. The original intent of this study was to investigate the relationship of gesture and motor skills in individuals who stutter. However due to recruitment limitations the enrolled sample consists solely of typically developing preschoolers, 3:8 to 6:6 years. Data are presented on gestures and disfluencies during spontaneous speech, a cartoon narration, and a video narration. Additionally, disfluencies were observed during a procedural description task with restricted hand use and hand tapping. Data indicated that higher frequencies of gestures and disfluencies were seen during the cartoon narration. A greater frequency of disfluencies was also experienced with restricted hand use. Relationships between the variables were also explored. Limitations and implications of these results are discussed from both theoretical and clinical perspectives. / Rangos School of Health Sciences / Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) / MS / Thesis

<p> Listener vs. speaker-oriented speech: Studying the language of individuals with autism There are many mechanisms speakers utilize in conversation that aid a listener's understanding. However, there are also many characteristics of speech where it is unclear whether they serve listener or speaker-oriented functions. For example, speakers frequently produce disfluencies such as "um or "uh," which are helpful to listeners, indicating that the speaker is not finished speaking yet. We do not know, however, if these are used intentionally to aid listeners. In addition, the tendency to place animate items as sentential subjects may benefit either speaker or listener. Since individuals with autism engage in minimal listener-oriented behaviour, they are a useful group to differentiate these functions. Results showed that individuals with autism used fewer ums and uhs, and more silent pauses than controls, but used animacy similarly. This suggests that the use of ums and uhs is for the benefit of listeners, but the bias toward animate subjects is not.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Alguns estudos na área da Psicolinguística tratam sobre a interrupção da forma natural da fluência da fala. Essas suspensões são denominadas disfluências e podem ser de variados tipos como, por exemplo, repetições, substituições ou pausas. Entre alguns trabalhos sobre disfluências, destaca-se o realizado por Jaeger (2005), que tratou da omissão do relativizador that na língua inglesa e a possibilidade desse fator ser responsável pela criação de disfluências. Nessa mesma linha, objetivamos analisar as disfluências na camada dos relativizadores camada CP em língua portuguesa brasileira. Para isso, tomaram-se dados obtidos por Corrêa et al (2008) sobre produção de orações relativas. Nesse estudo, os autores, buscando verificar a complexidade da formulação de orações relativas, manipularam duas condições: plenamente planejada que reduziria a carga de processamento e, consequentemente, levaria à maior produção de orações relativas padrões e parcialmente planejada a qual aumentaria a carga de processamento e, consequentemente, maior produção de orações relativas cortadoras e resumptivas. Diante disso, sabendo que o planejamento de estruturas mais complexas pode ser um fator que gere mais sentenças disfluentes, resta saber em qual das condições, estipuladas por Corrêa et al (2008), haveria maior caso de disfluências. Acreditamos que a condição parcialmente planejada resultaria mais casos de disfluências em comparação à condição inteiramente planejada. Para verificação de tal hipótese, a presente pesquisa focou suas atenções no banco de dados de Corrêa et al (2008). Após determinados critérios, privilegiamos sentenças de orações relativas genitivas, orações relativas de objeto indireto funcional e orações relativas de objeto indireto lexical, pois tais seriam construções sintáticas mais complexas e passíveis de terem mais casos de disfluências. Identificadas e quantificadas todas as falas de interesse, criamos tabelas para melhor visualização das disfluências em localizações específicas na sentença como, por exemplo, antes da oração relativa (AOR), na oração relativa (NAOR) e depois da oração relativa (DPOR). Com tais dados analisados, verificamos que eles corroboravam a hipótese levantada: na condição parcialmente planejada há mais casos de disfluências do que na condição inteiramente planejada, principalmente quando se é focalizada a localização NAOR. Entre os principais resultados, percebemos que as disfluências do tipo pausas preenchidas aparecem em grande quantidade na localização NAOR, fator que revela uma característica especial da oração relativa. Essa disfluência, nesse trecho da sentença, revela que os falantes não somente fazem uma procura lexical, como também, um planejamento discursivo. Tais resultados nos motivaram a pensar em outras determinadas situações de pesquisa como, por exemplo, a análise das disfluências em sentenças de voz passiva / Some studies in Psycholinguistics area deal with the interruption of the natural form of fluency speech. These suspensions are called disfluencies and can be of various types, for example, repetitions, substitutions or pauses. Among some works about disfluency, the one made by Jaeger (2005) deserves attention. His research dealt with the omission of the relativizer that in English and the possibility of this factor being the responsible for the creation of disfluencies. With this in mind, we aimed to analyze disfluencies in the layer of relativizers - CP layer - in Brazilian Portuguese. For this, data were taken by Côrrea et al (2008) on production of relative clauses. In this study, the authors, trying to verify the complexity of the formulation of relative clauses, manipulated two conditions: totally planned which would reduce the processing load and, consequently, major production of standard relative clauses and partially planned which would increase the processing load and, therefore, major production of gap and resumptive relative clauses. So, knowing that the planning of more complex structures can be a factor that generates more disffluent sentences, the question in which of the conditions stipulated by Corrêa et al (2008), we would find major cases of disfluency. We believe that the condition partly planned results in more cases of disfluencies in comparison with the condition entirely planned. To investigate this hypothesis, this research has focused its attention on the database of Corrêa et al (2008). After certain criterions, were privileged sentences of genitive relative clauses, functional indirect object of relative clauses and lexical indirect object of relative clauses, because these would be syntactic constructions more complex and likely to have more cases of disfluencies. Once identified and quantified all kinds of speech that interested us, there were created tables in order to enable a better visualization of disfluencies in specific locations in sentences, for instance, before the relative clause (BRC), in relative clause (IRC) and after the relative clause (ARC). With such data analyzed, it was found that the data corroborate the hypothesis: in the partially planned condition there are more cases of disfluencies than there are in the totally planned condition, principally when the location IRC is focused. Among the main results, we noticed that the disfluencies such as filled pauses appear in large amounts in IRC location, a factor that reveals a special feature of the relative clause. This disfluency, in this stretch of the sentence, reveals that the speakers are not only looking for a lexical, but also a discursive planning. These results motivated us to think of some other research situations, for example, analysis of disfluencies in the passive voice sentences

Alguns estudos na área da Psicolinguística tratam sobre a interrupção da forma natural da fluência da fala. Essas suspensões são denominadas disfluências e podem ser de variados tipos como, por exemplo, repetições, substituições ou pausas. Entre alguns trabalhos sobre disfluências, destaca-se o realizado por Jaeger (2005), que tratou da omissão do relativizador that na língua inglesa e a possibilidade desse fator ser responsável pela criação de disfluências. Nessa mesma linha, objetivamos analisar as disfluências na camada dos relativizadores camada CP em língua portuguesa brasileira. Para isso, tomaram-se dados obtidos por Corrêa et al (2008) sobre produção de orações relativas. Nesse estudo, os autores, buscando verificar a complexidade da formulação de orações relativas, manipularam duas condições: plenamente planejada que reduziria a carga de processamento e, consequentemente, levaria à maior produção de orações relativas padrões e parcialmente planejada a qual aumentaria a carga de processamento e, consequentemente, maior produção de orações relativas cortadoras e resumptivas. Diante disso, sabendo que o planejamento de estruturas mais complexas pode ser um fator que gere mais sentenças disfluentes, resta saber em qual das condições, estipuladas por Corrêa et al (2008), haveria maior caso de disfluências. Acreditamos que a condição parcialmente planejada resultaria mais casos de disfluências em comparação à condição inteiramente planejada. Para verificação de tal hipótese, a presente pesquisa focou suas atenções no banco de dados de Corrêa et al (2008). Após determinados critérios, privilegiamos sentenças de orações relativas genitivas, orações relativas de objeto indireto funcional e orações relativas de objeto indireto lexical, pois tais seriam construções sintáticas mais complexas e passíveis de terem mais casos de disfluências. Identificadas e quantificadas todas as falas de interesse, criamos tabelas para melhor visualização das disfluências em localizações específicas na sentença como, por exemplo, antes da oração relativa (AOR), na oração relativa (NAOR) e depois da oração relativa (DPOR). Com tais dados analisados, verificamos que eles corroboravam a hipótese levantada: na condição parcialmente planejada há mais casos de disfluências do que na condição inteiramente planejada, principalmente quando se é focalizada a localização NAOR. Entre os principais resultados, percebemos que as disfluências do tipo pausas preenchidas aparecem em grande quantidade na localização NAOR, fator que revela uma característica especial da oração relativa. Essa disfluência, nesse trecho da sentença, revela que os falantes não somente fazem uma procura lexical, como também, um planejamento discursivo. Tais resultados nos motivaram a pensar em outras determinadas situações de pesquisa como, por exemplo, a análise das disfluências em sentenças de voz passiva / Some studies in Psycholinguistics area deal with the interruption of the natural form of fluency speech. These suspensions are called disfluencies and can be of various types, for example, repetitions, substitutions or pauses. Among some works about disfluency, the one made by Jaeger (2005) deserves attention. His research dealt with the omission of the relativizer that in English and the possibility of this factor being the responsible for the creation of disfluencies. With this in mind, we aimed to analyze disfluencies in the layer of relativizers - CP layer - in Brazilian Portuguese. For this, data were taken by Côrrea et al (2008) on production of relative clauses. In this study, the authors, trying to verify the complexity of the formulation of relative clauses, manipulated two conditions: totally planned which would reduce the processing load and, consequently, major production of standard relative clauses and partially planned which would increase the processing load and, therefore, major production of gap and resumptive relative clauses. So, knowing that the planning of more complex structures can be a factor that generates more disffluent sentences, the question in which of the conditions stipulated by Corrêa et al (2008), we would find major cases of disfluency. We believe that the condition partly planned results in more cases of disfluencies in comparison with the condition entirely planned. To investigate this hypothesis, this research has focused its attention on the database of Corrêa et al (2008). After certain criterions, were privileged sentences of genitive relative clauses, functional indirect object of relative clauses and lexical indirect object of relative clauses, because these would be syntactic constructions more complex and likely to have more cases of disfluencies. Once identified and quantified all kinds of speech that interested us, there were created tables in order to enable a better visualization of disfluencies in specific locations in sentences, for instance, before the relative clause (BRC), in relative clause (IRC) and after the relative clause (ARC). With such data analyzed, it was found that the data corroborate the hypothesis: in the partially planned condition there are more cases of disfluencies than there are in the totally planned condition, principally when the location IRC is focused. Among the main results, we noticed that the disfluencies such as filled pauses appear in large amounts in IRC location, a factor that reveals a special feature of the relative clause. This disfluency, in this stretch of the sentence, reveals that the speakers are not only looking for a lexical, but also a discursive planning. These results motivated us to think of some other research situations, for example, analysis of disfluencies in the passive voice sentences

<p>  </p> <p>Disfluencies are a commonly reported speech symptom associated with Parkinson disease (PD), though the cause remains unknown. Studies have consistently reported that people with PD experience more disfluencies, particularly atypical disfluencies compared to healthy controls. One proposed theory, known as the dualistic model of dopamine levels and stuttering, posits that abnormally high or low levels of dopamine may cause an increase in disfluencies. The aim of the current study is to examine how levodopa medication and deep-brain stimulation affect fluency in people with PD. Twenty-seven participants with PD underwent testing before (on and off medicine) and six months after deep-brain stimulator implant surgery (optimally medicated, on and off stimulation). Participants read a passage aloud and provided a 2-minute monologue. Speech samples were transcribed. The number of typical and atypical disfluencies were identified auditorily and using a wide-band spectrogram. After surgery, most participants reduced their levodopa equivalency dose from pre-implant levels. Results demonstrated no significant differences in frequency of disfluencies across time (pre-surgery, post-surgery) or condition (on/off medication/stimulation). Overall, participants produced more typical than atypical disfluencies and more disfluencies in the monologue task than the reading task. Results do not support the dualistic model of dopamine, but instead support a more nuanced and individualized role for dopamine in speech fluency. For example, patterns within individual subjects suggest changes in dopamine may play a role in speech fluency for individual patients with PD. Data support the effect of cognition and language formulation in the production of disfluencies, particularly typical disfluencies.</p>

[pt] Esta dissertação se insere na área da Psicolinguística e volta-se para a análise de disfluências em um estudo da fala de adultos idosos neurologicamente saudáveis, utilizando tarefas previstas na Bateria de Avaliação da Linguagem no Envelhecimento (BALE) (HÜBNER, et al., 2019). Neste estudo, buscou-se investigar os tipos de disfluência mais recorrentes na produção de três tipos de narrativas: um reconto (Lúcia), uma história engraçada vivida pelo participante (Funny Story) e uma narrativa baseada em sequência de figuras (Dog Story). O estudo incluiu 55 participantes (43 do sexo feminino, 12 do sexo masculino), com idade média de 70 anos (SD= 7,3). Foi investigado o efeito das seguintes variáveis sociodemográficas na produção de disfluências: idade, sexo, status socioeconômico e escolaridade. Também se examinou a correlação entre proporção de disfluências em cada tipo de narrativa e a pontuação na respectiva tarefa, entre proporção de disfluências e hábitos de leitura e escrita, e a correlação entre a proporção de disfluências e o desempenho dos participantes em testes cognitivos previstos na BALE. Os resultados obtidos indicam que a proporção de disfluências varia em função das demandas cognitivas de cada tipo de narrativa, havendo maior proporção de disfluências na tarefa de produção de reconto. Foram analisados os seguintes tipos de disfluência: pausas preenchidas, reformulações, prolongamentos, repetições e interrupções. Observam-se diferenças quanto à distribuição de tipos de disfluência em função da natureza gramatical do elemento afetado, com maior incidência de pausas preenchidas e reformulações sobre itens lexicais e de prolongamentos e repetições sobre itens funcionais. Em relação aos fatores sociodemográficos examinados, foi observado resultado significativo apenas para o fator escolaridade, com uma maior ocorrência de disfluências entre os indivíduos com mais alto grau de escolaridade, na tarefa de reconto. No que tange aos estudos de correlação, embora não tenha havido efeitos de correlação entre proporção de disfluências em cada narrativa e a pontuação obtida na respectiva tarefa, cumpre notar que o reconto foi a tarefa em que os participantes apresentaram pontuação mais baixa, resultado que converge com o achado anterior de que esse tipo de narrativa induz maior produção de disfluências. Nos outros estudos de correlação, foi observada correlação positiva entre a proporção de disfluências produzidas na narrativa da história engraçada e a tarefa de nomeação, e entre a proporção de disfluências na tarefa de reconto e a pontuação obtida no questionário de hábitos de leitura. Os resultados, em conjunto, sugerem que as disfluências na produção dos idosos neurologicamente saudáveis podem ser interpretadas menos como perturbações e mais como recursos importantes no planejamento e estruturação linguística de enunciados. Ao final, apontam-se implicações dos resultados para a compreensão de como elementos como tipo de narrativa, fatores socioeconômicos, hábitos de leitura e escrita e condições/estratégias cognitivas se entrelaçam para moldar o desempenho linguístico de adultos idosos, trazendo contribuições significativas para o campo da psicolinguística e além. / [en] This dissertation is on the field of Psycholinguistics and focuses on the analysis of disfluencies in the speech of neurologically healthy older adults, using tasks from the Language Assessment Protocol called Bateria de Avaliação da Linguagem no Envelhecimento (BALE) (HÜBNER, et al., 2019). In this study, we aimed to investigate the most recurring types of disfluencies in the production of three types of narratives: a retelling (Lúcia), a funny story experienced by the participant (Funny Story), and a narrative based on a sequence of pictures (Dog Story). The study included 55 participants (43 female, 12 male), with a mean age of 70 years (SD = 7.3). We investigated the effect of the following sociodemographic variables on the production of disfluencies: age, gender, socioeconomic status, and education. We also examined the correlation between the proportion of disfluencies in each type of narrative and the score on the respective task, between the proportion of disfluencies and reading and writing habits, and the correlation between the proportion of disfluencies and the participants performance on cognitive tests included in the BALE. The results indicate that the proportion of disfluencies varies according to the cognitive demands of each type of narrative, with a higher proportion of disfluencies in the retelling task (Lúcia). The following types of disfluencies were analyzed: filled pauses, revisions, prolongations, repetitions, and interruptions. Differences were observed in the distribution of types of disfluency based on the grammatical nature of the affected item, with a higher incidence of filled pauses and revisions on lexical items and prolongations and repetitions on functional items. Regarding the examined sociodemographic factors, a significant result was found only for the education factor, with a higher occurrence of disfluencies among individuals with a higher level of education in the retelling task. Regarding the correlation studies, although there were no correlation effects between the proportion of disfluencies in each narrative and the score obtained in the respective task, it is worth noting that retelling was the task in which participants scored the lowest, which is in alignment with previous findings arguing that this type of narrative induces higher production of disfluencies. In the other correlation studies, a positive correlation was observed between the proportion of disfluencies produced in the funny story narrative and the naming task and between the proportion of disfluencies in the retelling task and the score obtained in the reading habits questionnaire. Taken together, these results suggest that disfluencies in the speech production of neurologically healthy older adults can be interpreted less as disturbances and more as important resources in the planning and linguistic structuring of utterances. Finally, implications of these findings are pointed out for a better understanding of the way elements such as narrative type, socioeconomic factors, reading and writing habits, and cognitive conditions/strategies interplay to shape the linguistic performance of older adults, bringing significant contributions to the field of psycholinguistics and beyond.

No description available.

The paper gives a detailed examination of the pragmatic features of spontaneous (unprepared) conversation in English. The analysis is based on radio and everyday conversations. It covers such pragmatic features as backchannels, overlaps, and repairs. Two types of spontaneous conversations were subjected to analysis – partially prepared radio discussions and spontaneous (unprepared) everyday conversations. The method chosen for the study was conversation analysis. The research demonstrated that the spontaneous everyday conversations were more ‘messy’ in terms of produced backchannels and overlaps since all the speakers were self-selectant and there was no monitor, as in the radio discussions. However, the radio discussions contained more repairs which were due to a high planning effort on the part of the speakers. All the analyzed disfluencies proved to be natural components of face-to-face interactions performing the function of cooperation. The disfluencies for the most part did not add to the main content of the conversations and discussions; however, some modifications in the speakers’ utterances did take place as a reaction to certain backchannels and overlaps. The disfluencies appeared to be useful devices used for the expression and interpretation of the intended meanings of the speakers. / Šitas darbas detaliai nagrinėja spontaniško (neparuošto) pokalbio pragmatinius bruožus anglų kalboje. Tyrinėjimas apima tokius pragmatinius bruožus kaip atsakomosios reakcijos signalai (backchannels), taisymai (repairs) ir overlaps, kai pokalbio dalyviai kalba vienu metu. Spontaniškiems pokalbiams yra būdingos kalbėtojų kaitos procesai, kurie gali pasižymėti įvairiais kalbėjimo nesklandumais (disfluencies). Kalbėjimo nesklandumai yra būdingi visiems pokalbių tipams (žanrams). Šito darbo dėmesio centre yra faktoriai, sąlygojantys spontanišką bendravimą; skirtumai tarp spontaniško ir paruošto pokalbio; šnekos nesklandumų tipai radijo ir kasdieniame spontaniškame bendravime, ir reliatyvus šitų nesklandumų dažnumas abėjų tipų pokalbiuose. Dažniausiai kalbėtojų kaitos procesų ypatybės ir leidžia atskirti pokalbių tipus ( rūšis). Paruoštame pokalbyje perėjimas nuo vieno kalbėtojo pasisakymo prie kito yra sklandus: vienas kalbėtojas pradėda, užbaigia savo pasisakymą, po to kitas kalbėtojas pradėda kalbėti ir užbaigia savo pasisakymą. Toks sklandumas išplaukia iš kalbėtojų išankstinio žinojimo, ką sakyti ir kiek sakyti. Spontaniškame pokalbyje kalbėtojai tokio žinojimo neturi; bendravime nėra aiškiai apibrėžto plano, dėl to jam yra būdingi kalbėjimo nesklandumai. Buvo analizuoti du spontaniškų pokalbių tipai- iš dalies paruoštos radijo diskusijos ir spontaniški (neparuošti) kasdieniai pokalbiai. Tyrimo tikslai buvo: apibrėžti pasitaikusių nesklandumų tipus radijo ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Le bégaiement est un trouble de la fluence de la parole qui se caractérise, entre autres, par une présence accrue d’accidents de parole venant entraver l’intelligibilité de l’énoncé. Ce travail de doctorat a pour objectif d’étudier les disfluences catégorisées comme pathologiques produites par des locuteurs qui bégaient et ce, en tâche de lecture et en situation de parole spontanée. Plus précisément, il s’agit, d’une part, de vérifier si des éléments morphologiques et phonétiques peuvent expliquer l’apparition d’un bégayage et, d’autre part, d’observer les événements articulatoires présents avant et pendant les disfluences. Pour mener à bien les études ayant trait aux éléments linguistiques posant le plus de difficultés aux personnes qui bégaient, 10 locuteurs francophones et 10 locuteurs slovacophones, tous atteints de ce trouble, ont été enregistrés en train de lire un texte et de parler spontanément dans leur langue maternelle. Quant aux travaux portant sur les événements moteurs se déroulant avant et durant les disfluences, ils ont été réalisés grâce à des données EMA acquises auprès de 4 locuteurs francophones (2 locuteurs qui bégaient et 2 sujets normo-fluents) en tâche de lecture. Nos résultats ont montré que les consonnes non-voisées et les occlusives faisaient partie des éléments les plus problématiques à prononcer pour les personnes bègues. L’étude morphologique a révélé que plus un mot contient de morphèmes et plus le risque de voir apparaître une disfluence est accru. Ce résultat doit notamment être mis en corrélation avec le nombre de syllabes présentes dans le mot. En ce qui concerne le second couple d’études, portant sur le niveau moteur de la parole bègue, nos données montrent, en particulier, des similitudes dans les événements articulatoires se déroulant au niveau supra-glottique entre les disfluences perçues acoustiquement comme des blocages et des prolongations. Enfin, une perturbation des gestes coarticulatoires a pu être relevée lors de la production de certaines disfluences. / Stuttering is a speech fluency disorder. It can be mainly characterized by an increased presence of disfluencies that affect the speech intelligibility. The aim of this thesis is to study stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) produced by persons who stutter (PWS) during reading tasks and during spontaneous speech. More specifically, we propose, as our first objective, to verify if any morphological or phonetic elements can explain the presence of these disfluencies. Our second objective is to observe articulatory events before and during SLDs. For the studies dealing with the linguistic and phonetic elements that can be problematic to PWS, 10 French-speaking and 10 Slovak-speaking PWS were recorded while reading a text and while having a conversation in their mother tongue. The studies on speech motor events taking place before and during SLDs were realized by means of an EMA. 4 French-speaking subjects participated in this part of the study (2 PWS and 2 control subjects). Our results show that non-voiced consonants and stops were part of the most problematic elements to produce for PWS. The morphological study reveals that the risk of a SLD appearance was higher when the word contained more morphemes. This result should be correlated to the number of syllables that constitute the word. As for the second couple of studies, they focus on the speech motor events in stuttered speech. Our data show that similar articulatory events can take place in the supraglottic cavity during disfluencies perceived as blocks or prolongations. Furthermore, a disruption of coarticulatory gestures was observed in certain disfluencies.

This thesis addresses the issue of the interplay of product form changes and experience in simultaneous interpreting from English into Czech comparing students and graduates in Interpreting. The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic overview of language form errors in simultaneous interpretation performed by interpreters on different stages of acquiring interpreting skills. The study is divided into two sections - theoretical and empirical. The theoretical section introduces the current state of knowledge and the findings of previous studies concerning product form changes on a language level in simultaneous interpreting. The present study is based on the assumption that growing experience and regular interpreting excercise improve interpreter's output form achieving thus a smooth and fluent interpreting perfomance without any language disfluencies unpleasant to the listener. The study also addresses listener's perception of the language form of interpreter's output with all of its potential infelicities. The empirical section consists of an experiment which is divided into two parts. The first part aims at classifying and quantifying product form changes in simultaneous interpreting performed by three groups of interpreters - beginning students, advanced students and graduates in...