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Glite Dictionary
disfluency

disfluency

1 8.9
A break in speaking or writing, such as a pause and repeated words
  • noun
  • /ˌdɪsˈfluənsi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : disfluencia
  • Non-stuttering-like speech disfluencies included phrase repetitions, interjections, and revisions (Ambrose & Yairi, 1999).
  • speech disfluency
  • disfluency frequency
  • types of disfluencies

And so you have almost immediate disfluency.

Examples

  • Most of the children showed higher levels of disfluency during the conversational tasks than they did during the narrative task.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Therefore, clinicians should expect to see higher rates of speech disfluencies in the output of typically fluent bilingual speakers.

    Academic text (2015)

  • In the present study, there were high rates of speech disfluencies produced, but all were produced without atypical tension or rhythm.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Several types of disfluencies, such as repetitions, prolongations, and blocks, characterize stuttered speech.

    Academic text (2013)

  • Younger school-age children produced more instances of typical (nonstuttering-like) disfluencies in the conversational sample than did older school-age children.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The teacher noticed a lot of disfluency in his students' presentations, including frequent pauses and repetitions.

  • During the speech therapy session, the therapist identified several examples of disfluency in the child's speech pattern.

  • Many young children exhibit a certain level of disfluency as they learn to express themselves verbally.

Synonyms

inarticulacy
vsdisfluency
1 8.7

Not being able to speak or write clearly

focuses on pauses, hesitations, and repetitions rather than general clarity
brokenness
vsdisfluency
6.5

Speech that is not smooth and is hard to follow

refers specifically to performance problems like hesitations and pauses

Antonyms

fluency
8 3.0

A person's ability to speak or write a language easily and smoothly

smoothness
1 2.6

How something works without pauses or problems

How Fluent

eloquence
20 6.1
fluency
8 3.0
disfluency
  • Specialized
1 8.9
stutter
  • Specialized
17 4.1
hesitation
110 2.8

Surface Forms

disfluency singular
disfluencies plural

Morphology

disfluency = fluency (semi-transparent) = dis + fluent + cy

The immediate step from 'fluency' to 'disfluency' is a straightforward negative prefixation meaning lack of fluency.

Etymology

The word disfluency starts with dis- meaning 'not' and ends with fluency, from a root meaning 'to flow', just like the common word flow. So disfluency is when speech does 'not flow' smoothly, with pauses, repeats, or hesitations.