Disfluency clusters in typical and atypical finnish adult speech. A pilot study

Figures & data

Table 1. Proposed functional fluency tools (modified after Penttilä & Korpijaakko-Huuhka, 2019, p. 35)

Operational definitions for disfluency units	Functions of units & Subtypes	Subtypes with examples*
Interruption intermitting a sound, syllable, part-word, word or utterance (false start) revision correcting of a sound, syllable, part-word, word or utterance	Language formulation repairing inserting substituting	Repairing sound(s) or syllable(s) because of an error e.g., man chases ra^ (.) crows inserting new elements to the utterance e.g., man chases crows (.) black crows substituting words e.g., man chases crows^ (.) magpies
Filled pause filling a pause with interjection (e.g., well, like) or a hesitation sound (e.g., em, er)	Message planning hesitating structuring	Hesitating a single word e.g., man chases (.) well (.) like (.) ee (.) em (.) crows structuring an utterance e.g., man (.) well (.) mm (.) he chases black crows away from the field
Word repetition iterating a whole word immediately after the previous one or after a silent or filled pause	Fluency maintenance restarting connecting	Restarting an utterance usually after an error e.g., a boke bloke (.) bloke chases
Phrase repetition iterating two or more words immediately or after a silent or filled pause	creating time	connecting two utterances with different contents e.g., chases crows and (.) and then he sees creating time for planning or formulation by repeating words or phrases, usually without hesitation sounds e.g., man chases (.) chases (.) chases (.) crows

*in text examples ^ = interruption, (.) = silent pause

Table 2. Participant groups

Speaker groups N = 23	Sex	Age range	Disfluency frequency (%)
	Female/male	Years	Range	Group mean	SD
GA (high disfluency frequencies) typical speakers, n = 8	5/3	38–89	4.95–5.97	5.51	0.4
GB (very high disfluency frequencies) typical speakers, n = 6 speakers with TBI, n = 4	2/8	29–70	6.32–7.76 7.00–9.84	7.53	1.2
GC (the highest disfluency frequencies) speakers with TBI, n = 5	1/4	34–62	12.35–39.7	22.1	10.8

Table 3. Descriptives of disfluencies and disfluency clusters

Group	Disfluency frequency (SD, range)	Proportion of single disfluencies*	Mean number of clusters in speech sample (SD, range)	Mean length of cluster (SD, range)	Proportion of cluster types	Proportion of the most common disfluencies in the clusters
GA	5.51% (0.41; 4.95–5.97)	1.FP 43.6% 2.REP 22.4% 3.REV 18.1% 4.IRR 9.6% 5.SLR 6.3%	3.6 (1.59; 2–6)	2.5 (0.73; 2–4)	OD 93.1% MIX 6.9%	1.REV 27.8% 2.IRR 23.6% 3.FP 23.6% 4.REP 22.2% 5.SLR 2.8%
GB	7.53% (1.20; 6.32–9.84)	1.FP 34.5% 2.IRR 23.0% 3.REV 20.1% 4.REP 18.7% 5.SLR 3.7%	4.5 (2.50; 1–9)	2.8 (0.93; 2–5)	OD 91.1% MIX 8.9%	1.REV 31.5% 2.IRR 26.2% 3.FP 25.4% 4.REP 13.1% 5.SLR 3.8%
GC	22.10% (10.87; 12.35–39.70)	1.FP 36.7% 2.IRR 33.3% 3.REV 20.8% 4.REP 4.2% 5.SLR 5.0%	7.6 (3.78; 5–14)	3.6 (2.24; 2–14)	OD 68.4% MIX 31.6%	1.IRR 29.7% 2.REV 27.5% 3.FP 24.6% 4.SLR 10.1% 5.REP 8.1%

*FP = filled pauses, REP = word and phrase repetitions, REV = revisions, IRR = interruptions, SLR = stuttering-like repetitions

Figure 1. Functions of disfluency clusters in each speaker group

Figure 2. Functions in combination clusters in each speaker group

Penttilä, N., & Korpijaakko-Huuhka, A.-M. (2019). Disfluencies in typical Finnish-speaking adults. The Phonetician Journal of the International Society of Phonetic Sciences, 27(116), 28–41. http://isphs.org/Phonetician/ThePhonetician116.pdf

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