Age-dependent types and frequency of disfluencies

The age-dependent changes of one’s speech production from childhood up to old age are relatively well known. However, there has been less research conducted concerning the possible alterations of the disfluency phenomena in speakers’ spontaneous speech determined by age. Our hypothesis is that permanent changes are going on in the operation of speech production processes from early childhood up to old age, and that those changes can be studied via observing disfluency phenomena. A series of experiments has been carried out with the participation of altogether 30 Hungarian-speaking persons, children, midle-aged adults and old subjects (ages of 77). Their spontaneous speech was recorded and analyzed concerning the articulation and speech tempi, silent and filled pauses, as well as other disfluency phenomena (like false starts, repetitions, slips, etc.). The aim of the research is to explore the invariant and variable factors of the disfluencies depending on age. The results highlight also the individual differences that seem to be independent of the age factor.