Word frequency and stuttering: the relationship to sentence structure.

This experiment was designed to determine the relationship between word-frequency level and stuttering within the context of three selected sentence types: simple-active-affirmative-declarative, negative, and passive. Sixteen adult stutterers, rated into three groups of mild, moderate, and severe, read aloud 36 test sentences which were controlled for other linguistic factors known to affect stuttering. The results indicated that when the group rating was severe and the sentence type was either simple-active-affirmative-declarative or negative, stuttering increased significantly as word-frequency level decreased; no relationship was discerned between stuttering and word-frequency level within the passive sentence structure. It is suggested that stuttering in relation to word-frequency level is a differential response that is subject to variables of sentence type and severity rating of stuttering.