Clustering of disfluencies in typical, fast and cluttered speech

Figures & data

Table 1. Speech rate and articulation rate of the subjects (mean and range) (in syllables per second).

	Typical speakers	ERS	PWC
Speech rate	4.1 (3.1–5.1)	5.5 (4.7–7.1)	5.1 (4.6–5.7)
Articulation rate	5.8 (4.8–6.9)	7.3 (6.2–8.5)	6.8 (6.2–7.2)

Table 2. Types of disfluencies based on Roberts et al. (2009) and Tetnowski and Scott (2010).

Disfluency type	Definition	Typical or stuttering-like disfluency
Interjection	Any sound, syllable or extraneous word which does not contribute meaning to the sentence.	Typical disfluency
Part-word repetition	A sound or syllable said more than once with no intervening meaningful syllable or word.	Stuttering-like
Word repetition	A word said more than once with no intervening meaningful syllable or word.	Typical disfluency (in adults’ speech)
Phrase repetition	More than one word said more than once with no intervening meaningful syllable or word.	Typical disfluency
Revision	Instances when the speaker corrects an error.	Typical disfluency
Prolonged sounds	Any sounds considered longer than normal.	Stuttering-like

Table 3. Frequency of occurrence of disfluency clusters and complex disfluencies in 300 syllables in the speech of typical, PWC and ERS speakers.

	Typical		PWC		ERS
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Number of all disfluency clusters	4.8	4.2	6.8	3.5	0.6	0.9
Number of all complex disfluencies	0.8	0.7	2.6	1.8	0.0	0.0
Proportion of complex disfluencies in all disfluency clusters (%)	24.5	31.5	36.2	24.3	0.0	0.0
Number of all complex disfluencies containing three disfluencies	0.6	0.5	1.3	1.0	0.0	0.0
Number of all complex disfluencies containing more than three disfluencies	0.8	0.7	1.2	1.5	0.0	0.0

Table 4. Examples of complex disfluencies (FIL = filled pause; SIL = silent pause) (disfluencies are highlighted in bold).

Number of example	Speaker	Example
Complex disfluencies which suggest difficulties of message generation
1)	PWC	FIL SIL hát igazából azzt SIL azt FIL SIL szerettem volna megnézni hogy SIL hogy FIL SIL hát FIL SIL elsősorban ilyen pszicholingvisztikai szempontból SIL tehát hogy FIL SIL FIL pillanat SIL tehát SIL FIL SIL hogy SIL igazából a engem az SIL az SIL az érdekelt ‘FIL SIL well actually I wanted to have a look at that SIL that FIL SIL that SIL that FIL SIL so FIL SIL first of all from a psycholinguistic aspect SIL so that FIL SIL FIL wait a second SIL so SIL FIL SIL so SIL a actually I wanted to SIL to SIL to know’
2)	Typical speaker	én egy SIL gimnáziumba tanítok SIL magyart és énekzenét SIL így hát FIL SIL FIL a nyelvészettel nem csak hobbiszinten foglalkozom ‘I SIL teach in a grammar school SIL Hungarian language and literature and music SIL so that FIL SIL FIL for me linguistics is not only a hobby’
Complex disfluencies which suggest difficulties of linguistic formulation
3)	PWC	beszéltem FIL SIL egy FIL SIL FIL SIL egy e SIL egy honvédelmi SIL honvéd ezredessel ‘I talked to FIL SIL a FIL SIL FIL SIL a a SIL a national defence SIL home-defence colonel’
4)	Typical speaker	ma már rá FIL a akcióantr vagyis FIL alkalmazott antropológia SIL tehát SIL eredetileg én ami ami engem érdekelne FIL SIL az kutatás ‘today apr FIL a actionantr or FIL applied anthropology SIL so SIL originally I what what I an interested in FIL SIL is research’

Figure 1. Number of occurrences of types of disfluencies in the complex disfluencies which suggest difficulties of message generation.

Figure 2. Number of occurrences of types of disfluencies in the complex disfluencies which suggest difficulties in linguistic formulation.

Figure 3. Ratio of types of disfluencies in the complex disfluencies of different functions (T = Typical speakers, C = PWC; M = Difficulties in message generation, F = Difficulties in language formulation).

Roberts, P. M., Meltzer, A., & Wilding, J. (2009). Disfluencies in non-stuttering adults across sample lengths and topics. Journal of Communication Disorders, 42(6), 414–427.

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Tetnowski, J. A., & Scott, K. S. (2010). Fluency and Fluency Disorders. In J. S. Damico, N. Müller, & M. J. Ball, (Eds.), The Handbook of Language and Speech Disorders (pp. 431–454). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

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