Tsai Pei-Tzu
Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, San José State University, San José, CA 95192-0079, USA.
J Fluency Disord. 2018 Dec;58:86-93. doi: 10.1016/j.jfludis.2018.08.005. Epub 2018 Aug 30.
The study examined the relationship between word-form similarity network (phonological neighborhood) and stuttering occurrence in spontaneous speech in adults. The study asked whether neighborhood characteristics, including the number of neighbors (neighborhood density) and the average word frequency among neighbors (neighborhood frequency), differentiate stuttered from fluent words within spontaneous speech samples, and more specifically, whether neighborhood characteristics facilitate speech fluency in adults who stutter.
Spontaneous speech samples were collected from 14 adults who stutter, including 7 with mild stuttering and 7 with severe stuttering. Each stuttered word was matched with a fluently produced word within the sample, controlling for multiple lexical factors. Neighborhood density and neighborhood frequency were compared between the stuttered and matched fluent words.
Adults stuttered on words with lower neighborhood density, compared to fluently produced words, with similar patterns in the two severity subgroups. There appeared to be a marginal difference between single-syllable whole-word repetition and the other stuttering typologies.
Neighborhood density facilitates fluent word production in spontaneous speech in adults who stutter, regardless of stuttering severity. This finding adds to the evidence supporting that phonological encoding plays a role in stuttering in naturalistic, spontaneous speech in adults.
本研究探讨了词形相似性网络（语音邻域）与成人自发言语中口吃发生之间的关系。该研究询问邻域特征，包括邻域数量（邻域密度）和邻域内平均词频（邻域频率），是否能区分自发言语样本中口吃词和流畅词，更具体地说，邻域特征是否有助于口吃成人的言语流畅性。
从14名口吃成人中收集自发言语样本，其中7名轻度口吃，7名重度口吃。在样本中，每个口吃词都与一个流畅说出的词相匹配，同时控制多个词汇因素。比较口吃词和匹配的流畅词之间的邻域密度和邻域频率。
与流畅说出的词相比，成人在邻域密度较低的词上更容易口吃，两个严重程度亚组的模式相似。单音节全词重复与其他口吃类型之间似乎存在微小差异。
无论口吃严重程度如何，邻域密度都有助于口吃成人在自发言语中流畅地说出单词。这一发现进一步证明了语音编码在成人自然、自发言语中的口吃现象中起作用。
