stuttering in signed languages

[dcogill at une.edu.au]

Hi Karen,

could one check the 'feedback as cause' hypothesis ITSELF, in signer
stutterers, by looking at the kinds of signs they stutter on?  Unlike
speaker-hearers, signers have their visual feedback as intermittent in
online conversation, don't they - as one's own hands go in and out of
view. So if visual feedback triggers stuttering (whether as strongly or
more weakly than auditory feedback), then unlike the speaker-hearer's
fairly continuous flow of sound, one might be able to find correlations
between  the visibility of a sign to the signer, and the likelihood that
that sign triggers stuttering.

I thought about this because I was noting in Sarah's post that she
actually mentioned "I/me" as a sign she remembers her acquaintance
stuttering on, and I was thinking at the time "ah, not so good for the
feedback hypothesis of stuttering", as that sign's usually less in sight
than many other signs, depending on assimilation effects from the
surrounding signs, of course. But NOW I'm thinking (there's always a
'but', isn't there) — well, maybe certain areas of the visual field
trigger a stutter in individuals; or maybe signs in peripheral vision, as
"I/me" often would be, are exactly the ones that do, for example. These
possiblities would be testable too. I know I'm just chewing away on this
idea speculatively, exploring possibilities, but heck, that's part of what
this forum is for, so I'll boldly hit 'send' here.

Dorothea.



> 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
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> email: kemmorey at mail.sdsu.edu
>
> Lab website:  http://emmoreylab.sdsu.edu
>
>
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