Syllable Weight and Phonological Encoding in Japanese Children Who Stutter

要旨

The present study investigated effects of phonological factors on stuttering in Japanese children. Differences in the frequency of stuttering were compared between nonwords beginning with light syllables (i.e., syllables in Japanese with one mora) and nonwords beginning with heavy syllables (two moras). In a nonword reading task, the frequency of stuttering was significantly lower in nonwords beginning with heavy syllables than with light ones (Shimamori & Ito, 2006). However, a reading task requires different linguistic processing from spontaneous utterances. In the present study, a nonword naming task was used. Participants were 50 elementary school students who stuttered. The results were as follows: (1) The frequency of stuttering was significantly lower in nonwords beginning with heavy syllables than with light ones. (2) Among 4 types of heavy syllables, the frequency of stuttering was significantly lower on long vowels than it was on diphthongs and nasal consonants. These results coincided with the results of the reading task (Shimamori & Ito, 2006).

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