stuttering in signed languages

[Bencie Woll]

I've followed this discussion with interest. I think the evidence - slim as it
is - does suggest that the incidence of stuttering is much lower in sign
language than in spoken language. Figures for spoken language are given as
about 2.5% in pre-school children and as high as 5% overall (for stuttering at
any point in a person's life). It appears clear that the incidence can be
nowhere near as high for sign language.

Bencie Woll

Quoting Karen Emmorey <kemmorey at mail.sdsu.edu>:

> In some recent talks, I have hypothesized that stuttering might be  
> rare in sign language because there is a weak link between visual  
> feedback and sign production.  Some theories of stuttering  
> hypothesize a disruption between auditory feedback and speech  
> production.  Also, delayed auditory feedback can cause stuttering and 
>  can sometimes improve symptoms in stutterers.  So I've been 
> following  the anecdotes to see whether I could rule out sign 
> stuttering due to  late learning or as an effect that carries over 
> from speech in  hearing signers.  So I guess we have an interesting 
> result either  way.  If stuttering turns out to be as common in 
> signers as in  speakers, then this suggests that stuttering is indeed 
> a language  disorder.  On the other hand, if stuttering turns out to 
> be rare in  sign language, this supports my hypothesis that visual 
> feedback is  not strongly linked to language output, compared to 
> spoken language.
>
> Karen Emmorey
>
> *****************************************
> Dr. Karen Emmorey
> Professor, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
> San Diego State University
>
> Director, Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience
> 6495 Alvarado Road, Suite 200
> San Diego, CA 92120
>
> Office (voice); (619) 594-8080
> Lab (voice): (619) 594-8049
> Fax: (619) 594-8056
> email: kemmorey at mail.sdsu.edu
>
> Lab website:  http://emmoreylab.sdsu.edu
>
>
>
>



-- 
Professor Bencie Woll, BA, MA, PhD
Chair of Sign Language and Deaf Studies & Director, DCAL Centre
University College London
49 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PD
Tel: 020 7679 8670
Fax: 020 7679 8691
b.woll at ucl.ac.uk  www.dcal.ucl.ac.uk

_______________________________________________
SLLING-L mailing list
SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l