Disfluencies and Rate Characteristics of English Speaking Bilingual Young Indian Adults: Effects of Task and Speech Situations

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study is to document the type and frequency of disfluencies and rate characteristics which occurs in bilingual young non stutters who speak both Tamil and English and to compare the result across various speaking situations and task. Method: Thirty Bilingual (Tamil and English) young Indian adults, 15 Males and 15 Females within the age range of 18-22 years were considered as the participants. Recording were done for 10-15 minutes using PRAAT software for each of the task i.e General Conversation and Narration across various speaking situations such as familiar partner, unfamiliar partner, Telephonic communication, Communicating with opposite gender, Class presentation and Group discussion and across task such as general conversation and narration. Statistical analysis was carried out using Man Whitney U test to compare the disfluencies across situation and tasks. Result: Typical disfluencies had highest mean score than atypical disfluency. Among the various speaking situations unfamiliar communication partner, opposite gender, class presentation and group discussion had highest mean score when compared to familiar communication partner and telephonic conversation. Across task, narration had greatest disfluencies when compared to general conversation task. Male participants had highest disfluencies and had fast rate of speech when compared with females.