Rate of Speech/Reading in Dravidian Languages

Abstract

Rate of speech is an important variable in the evaluation and treatment of fluency disorders. The present study investigated rate of speech/ reading in 4 Dravidian languages and established normative data on rate of speech in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam in subjects ranging in 10 decades of age. Four hundred and one (Kannada = 136, Telugu = 69, Tamil = 103, Malayalam = 93) normal subjects participated in the study. All subjects were literates and were from urban population. Informed consent was obtained from subjects prior to collection of speech samples. Subjects in the age range of 4-10 years described cartoons and narrated stories and subjects in the age range of 11-100 years read passages which were developed by the investigators. All these were audio-recorded and analyzed to obtain syllables per second, syllables per minute and words per minute. Cool Edit software was used to eliminate pause and calculate duration. Results indicated significant difference between age groups, and languages. Rate of speech increased with increase in age till about 40 years and declined after 40 years (except Tamil). Malayalam had the highest SS and SPM compared to other languages. No significant difference between genders was observed. The results provide normative data for clinical purposes and to set rate of speech in persons with stuttering and cluttering.