When fluent position is lost: disharmony between speech and language

Abstract

Purpose: To develop the understanding about disharmony between speech and language via the speech of adult stutterers. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six adults, following the key questions. After the speech transcription, the notion of discursive practices and production of meaning allowed us to defi ne three categories. Results: The categories were: Sense Speech (Positive and Negative); Context of Speech (The Effect of Others and The Effect of Being Alone) and Anticipation of Stuttering. In Sense Speech-Positive respondents reported how they feel when they fl ow better in speech and when they allow themselves to stutter. In Sense of Speech-Negative respondents reported feeling dissimilar and marginalized by their manner of speaking. In Context of Speech-The Effect of Others, respondents showed when they feel like stutterers they imagine the others monitoring their speech. In Context of Speech-The Effect Alone, respondents reiterate the stuttering as a manifestation strongly linked to the presence of others. In Anticipation of Stuttering respondents reveal the ways in which stuttering is expected subjectively before it is materialized in their speech. Conclusion: disharmony between speech and language, in stuttered speech, is related to a speaker who feels stigmatized in his subjectivity in face of certain conditions of discursive production; disharmony between speech and language is materialized in order to avoid the provided stuttering. These characteristics indicate some elements that seem important to the targeting of a therapeutic approach of stutter speech wishing to overcome the subjective/discursive functioning that sustains it.