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Submitted by Mariane Carvalho Vischi (mazicarvalho@bol.com.br) on 2017-03-31T02:44:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DEFESA - VERSÃO FINAL MARIANE CARVALHO VISCHI.pdf: 6742229 bytes, checksum: 05af4a4bb57ab550fefe7fac1686e50e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-04-06T17:14:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 vischi_mc_dr_arafcl.pdf: 6742229 bytes, checksum: 05af4a4bb57ab550fefe7fac1686e50e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-06T17:14:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 vischi_mc_dr_arafcl.pdf: 6742229 bytes, checksum: 05af4a4bb57ab550fefe7fac1686e50e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-03 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O presente trabalho investiga e compara a disfluência na fala de pessoas gagas e não gagas. O primeiro tipo foi denominado de disfluência gaga e o segundo, de disfluência comum. De uma maneira geral, as disfluências são caracterizadas pelo não fluir normal dos segmentos sonoros da fala, devido à presença de hesitações e de interrupções durante o processo comunicativo. Inicialmente, foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica sobre a relação da fluência com a disfluência a partir de uma compilação dos principais estudos sobre o assunto. Na sequência, apresentamos os trabalhos da literatura especializada e da linguística para a disfluência gaga, bem como dos aspectos que tratam da articulação da fala e dos elementos suprassegmentais. A metodologia consistiu na gravação semiespontânea de seis informantes gagos e seis não gagos. Como parte da metodologia para a formação do corpus, foi pedido a eles que narrassem algum fato que tivesse marcado suas vidas. Não foi definida de uma temática específica. Os dados foram analisados auditivamente e acusticamente. Para a análise acústica utilizou-se o software PRAAT. Para análise e interpretação dos dados foram usados modelos teóricos referentes à fonologia autossegmental (Pierrehumbert,1980; Ladd, 1996, entre outros) e, como apoio teórico, o da fonologia funcional (Halliday, 1970; Cagliari, 2007). Também foram utilizados os trabalhos relacionados ao estudo da fluência e disfluência da fala de uma maneira geral (Scarpa, 1995; Cruz, 2009; Koch, 2009; Scarpa; Fernandes-Svartman, 2012; Merlo, 2015, entre outros), bem como da disfluência gaga (Van Riper, 1971; Friedman 1986; Azevedo, 2000, entre outros). A investigação acústica estuda os segmentos fonéticos, as pausas, as repetições, as hesitações, os alongamentos e os bloqueios de fala. A interpretação fonológica investiga o comportamento dos fonemas nos dois tipos de disfluências. Os resultados mostraram, em relação à análise da F0 e padrão da intensitade, diferenças pouco significativas para a comparação entre os dois tipos de disfluências. A duração foi o evento que mais distanciou os dois tipos de fala, sendo maior para os falantes com disfluência gaga. Em relação aos tipos de disfluências (repetições, inserções, hesitações, entre outros), tanto os informantes gagos quanto os não gagos realizaram o mesmo tipo de disfluência. A diferença entre eles deve-se à quantidade e à complexidade das disfluências. Nesse caso, os informantes gagos tendem a apresentar um maior número de disfluências por grupo tonal, bem como uma quantidade maior de disfluências complexas. Outra diferença entre os dois grupos está na duração e quantidade de pausas, que tende a ser maior para os informantes com disfluência gaga. A análise fonológica, por sua vez, mostrou que gagos e não gagos tendem a manter o padrão entoacional para as repetições, inserções e hesitações. Esses resultados confirmam a hipótese de que a gagueira estaria mais relacionada a uma questão articulatória que leva, por meio de uma empatia fonética negativa, a quebra na expectativa do interlocutor. Já a disfluência comum, por estar mais relacionada a fenômenos estilísticos, não é sentida da mesma maneira. Mesmo assim, o caminho mais adequado não é o de distanciar negativamente esses dois tipos de fala, uma vez que os eventos são os mesmos, o que muda é o modo como eles são refletidos e sentidos. / The present work investigates and compares the dysfluency speech of stuttering and non-stuttering people. The first type was called stutterer dysfluency and the second common disfluency. In general, dysfluencies are characterized by no expected flow of the phonetic segments of speech due to the presence of hesitations and interruptions during the communication process. A general review of the literature on the relationship between fluency and dysfluency is presented with comments. A special review presents works of linguists, discussing stutterer dysfluency in particular in relation to segmental and suprasegmental articulatory problems. The methodology consists of recordings of semi spontaneous speech by six stutterers and non-stutterers informants. As part of the methodology for the formation of the corpus, the informants were asked to report any fact that marked their lives. Data were analyzed auditorily and acoustically. For acoustic analysis, the PRAAT software was used. Theoretical models regarding autosegmental phonology (Pierrehumbert, 1980; Ladd, 1996 among others) and functional phonology (Halliday, 1970, Cagliari, 2007) were used for theoretical support. The study of fluency and dysfluency discusses in particular the works from Scarpa (1995); Cruz (2009); Koch (2009) and Merlo (2015). On the other hand, stutterer dysfluency reminds the works of Van Riper (1971); Friedman (1986); Azevedo (2000), among others. The acoustic analyses take into consideration the phonetic segments, pauses, repetitions, hesitations, speech stretching and blocking. The phonological interpretation investigates the phoneme behavior in both types of disfluency. The results revealed, in relation to the analysis of F0 and intensity standard, minor differences in comparing the two types of disfluency. The duration was the event that more distanced the two types of speech behavior, being higher for speakers with stutterer dysfluency. The difference between them is due to the amount of occurrences and the types of complex disfluencies. Stuttering informants tend to have a larger number of dysfluency by tonal group as well as a greater amount of complex dysfluency. The phonological analyses, in turn, showed that stuttering and non-stuttering tend to maintain the intonation pattern for repeats, insertions and hesitations. These results confirm the hypothesis that stuttering is more related to an articulation process which leads, through a negative phonetic empathy, to break the expectation of the interlocutor. On the other hand, common dysfluency which is more related to stylistic phenomena is also involved with the same kind of speech problems but in a different dimension. Indeed, the most appropriate conclusion is to set a scale for the events with the two types of disfluency in opposite positions. This scale is interpreted as such by the persons involved in the problem, being framed by different expectations. / CNPq: 141913/2013-4

Word-retrieval and rapid naming abilities play an important role in language processing and cognitive development. Researchers have demonstrated that early language difficulties may lead to later reading impairments and several decades of research has convincingly demonstrated that rapid automatized naming is a powerful predictor of concurrent and future reading development. As a result, researchers have argued that naming and reading tasks involve some shared cognitive processes. Language and reading deficits have implications for academic success and self-esteem, particularly during childhood. Hence, the identification of children at-risk for developing reading impairments is an important task for educators and clinicians. Debates still exist about whether rapid naming difficulties reflect simple delays in language acquisition resulting from processing speed and/or attention problems or are suggestive of abnormalities in underlying cognitive processes. While the co-occurrence of rapid naming deficits and reading impairments is well established in the literature, few studies have explored the presence of Dysnomia without reading impairment. The current study examined the nature of expressive language deficits for Dysnomic children with and without impaired reading by incorporating multiple neuropsychological measures. In a sample of children (N=104) between the ages of 6 and 12 years, performance differences were specifically investigated on measures of verbal fluency, confrontation naming, and rapid naming, as well as visual and verbal sequential memory. The impact of a concurrent diagnosis of a primary attention deficit was also examined within the context of cognitive performances. Results of the current study indicated that a concurrent diagnosis of AD/HD significantly impacted performance on measures of verbal fluency and confrontation naming. When comparing the neurocognitive profiles of these children, those with Dysnomia performed significantly better on reading-related tasks and worse on a measure of visual sequential memory. No significant differences were found between groups on other neuropsychological measures, yet performances were consistently below average for children in both groups. Overall, findings revealed that children in both groups displayed similar neurocognitive profiles. However, children diagnosed only with Dysnomia were significantly younger than children with both Dysnomia and Dyslexia. Findings from this study have implications for research and intervention with school-aged children. Treatment approaches targeting reading fluency and automaticity may be particularly helpful for children with Dysnomia, in addition to intervention programs which integrate fluency-based with phonological-based treatment.

Difficulties in speech production are often marked by disfluency; fillers, hesitations, prolongations, repetitions and repairs. In recent years a body of work has emerged that demonstrates that listeners are sensitive to disfluency, and that this affects their expectations for upcoming speech, as well as their attention to the speech stream. This thesis investigates the extent to which delay may be responsible for triggering these effects. The experiments reported in this thesis build on an Event Related Potential (ERP) paradigm developed by Corley et al., (2007), in which participants listened to sentences manipulated by both fluency and predictability. Corley et al. reported an attenuated N400 effect for words following disfluent ers, and interpreted this as indicating that the extent to which listeners made predictions was reduced following an er. In the current set of experiments, various noisy interruptions were added to Corley et al.,'s paradigm, time matched to the disfluent fillers. These manipulations allowed investigation of whether the same effects could be triggered by delay alone, in the absence of a cue indicating that the speaker was experiencing difficulty. The first experiment, which contrasted disfluent ers with artificial beeps, revealed a small but significant reduction in N400 effect amplitude for words affected by ers but not by beeps. The second experiment, in which ers were contrasted with speaker generated coughs, revealed no fluency effects on the N400 effect. A third experiment combined the designs of Experiments 1 and 2 to verify whether the difference between them could be characterised as a context effect; one potential explanation for the difference between the outcomes of Experiments 1 and 2 is that the interpretation of an er is affected by the surrounding stimuli. However, in Experiment 3, once again no effect of fluency on the magnitude of the N400 effect was found. Taken together, the results of these three studies lead to the question of whether er's attenuation effect on the N400 is robust. In a second part to each study, listeners took part in a surprise recognition memory test, comprising words which had been the critical words in the previous task intermixed with new words which had not appeared anywhere in the sentences previously heard. Participants were significantly more successful at recognising words which had been unpredictable in their contexts, and, importantly, for Experiments 1 and 2, were significantly more successful at recognising words which had featured in disfluent or interrupted sentences. There was no difference between the recognition rates of words which had been disfluent and those which were affected by a noisy interruption. Collard et al., (2008) demonstrated that disfluency could raise attention to the speech stream, and the finding that interrupted words are equally well remembered leads to the suggestion that any noisy interruption can raise attention. Overall, the finding of memory benefits in response to disfluency, in the absence of attenuated N400 effects leads to the suggestion that different elements of disfluencies may be responsible for triggering these effects. The studies in this thesis also extend previous work by being designed to yield enough trials in the memory test portion of each experiment to permit ERP analysis of the memory data. Whilst clear ERP memory effects remained elusive, important progress was made in that memory ERPs were generated from a disfluency paradigm, and this provided a testing ground on which to demonstrate the use of linear mixed-effects modelling as an alternative to ANOVA analysis for ERPs. Mixed-effects models allow the analysis of unbalanced datasets, such as those generated in many memory experiments. Additionally, we demonstrate the ability to include crossed random effects for subjects and items, and when this is applied to the ERPs from the listening section of Experiment 1, the effect of fluency on N400 amplitude is no longer significant. Taken together, the results from the studies reported in this thesis suggest that temporal delay or disruption in speech can trigger raised attention, but do not necessarily trigger changes in listeners' expectations.

Tittle: Speech fluency and motor system relations as the outcome of physiotherapy in comprehensive stuttering treatment Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to summarize the accessible literary sources about functional and structural etiology of developmental dysfluency and its effects on motor system. The next aim of this paper is to research current position of physiotherapy in comprehensive stuttering therapy. Methods: The thesis used literature research method, the specific criteria for the selection of literary sources were stated. The first part contains theoretical ground regarding general issues of dysfluency. The second, descriptive and analytical part contains several chapters describing many studies dealing with functional and organ cause of stuttering, features of stutter motor system of stutterers and the current state of physiotherapy in the issue of stuttering. Results: The thesis points out the fundamental meaning of motor system, particularly motor planning in the ethiopathogenesis of stuttering. Certain variations in the structure and function of the CNS of stuttering people have been described. These deviations are specifically manifested on the motor system effectors. The research shows that physical therapy in the complex treatment of stuttering has no clearly defined role so...

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