The properties of stuttered words

Four factors suspected to be associated with high frequency of stuttering are examined by having stutterers read aloud test material while their loci of stuttering are recorded. A factorial analysis of proportions transformed to logits on three of the factors (excluding grammatical classes) supports the following conclusions: (a) Each of the factors—consonant-vowel difference, position of letters in words, and words in sentences, and length of words—has a statistically significant effect. (b) These effects are independent of each other. (c) The greatest contribution to stuttering comes from the consonantvowel difference, next position, and then length. Amount of information associated with each of the factors and articulatory complexities are discussed as possible underlying mechanisms of stuttering.