Judging stuttering in an unfamiliar language: The importance of closeness to the native language

Abstract

In order to test the hypothesis that closeness to the listener's native language is a determining factor when identifying stuttering in an unfamiliar language, three panels of different linguistic background were asked to make judgements of stuttering in a sample of Dutch speakers. It was found that a panel speaking Dutch and a panel speaking English (both West Germanic languages) performed better in identifying Dutch people who stutter and people who do not stutter than a panel speaking Brazilian Portuguese (a Romance language) thus confirming the existence of a closeness of language influence. Further analysis showed that when the native language is more remote from the unfamiliar language there is the possibility of a higher risk for false positive identification.