Armson J, Kalinowski J
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
J Speech Hear Res. 1994 Feb;37(1):69-82. doi: 10.1044/jshr.3701.69.
This paper examines difficulties inherent in interpreting results of studies that compare the fluent speech characteristics of stutterers and nonstutterers. The majority of these studies have reported stutterer/nonstutterer differences in temporal parameters of fluent speech production. Such differences have been interpreted as indicating that stutterers possess temporal-motor deficits that are ever-present in speech and, therefore, causal to stuttering. However, a problem for researchers studying the fluent speech of stutterers is that samples may be contaminated by the influence of stuttering. In this paper, evidence is reviewed which suggests that characteristics of the perceptually fluent speech of stutterers change as a function of a number of variables: (a) context of experimental samples, (b) treatment history of subjects, (c) stuttering severity of subjects, and (d) developmental history of stuttering. In addition, evidence is presented which can be interpreted to show that each of these variables reflect stuttering, either directly or indirectly. It is argued that because these variables are difficult to fully control, or account for, comparison of the characteristics of the perceptually fluent speech of stutters and nonstutterers as a method of studying stuttering causation is problematic. Alternative directions for research activity are discussed.
本文探讨了在解释比较口吃者和非口吃者流畅言语特征的研究结果时所固有的困难。这些研究中的大多数都报告了口吃者和非口吃者在流畅言语产生的时间参数上存在差异。这种差异被解释为表明口吃者具有在言语中始终存在的时间运动缺陷，因此是口吃的原因。然而，研究口吃者流畅言语的研究人员面临的一个问题是，样本可能会受到口吃影响的污染。本文回顾了相关证据，这些证据表明口吃者可感知的流畅言语特征会随着一些变量而变化：（a）实验样本的背景，（b）受试者的治疗史，（c）受试者的口吃严重程度，以及（d）口吃的发展历史。此外，还提供了一些证据，这些证据可以被解释为表明这些变量中的每一个都直接或间接地反映了口吃。有人认为，由于这些变量难以完全控制或解释，将口吃者和非口吃者可感知的流畅言语特征进行比较作为研究口吃成因的一种方法存在问题。文中还讨论了研究活动的其他方向。
