Doctoral Dissertation Research: Disfluency Production and Comprehension in Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder

这一博士论文项目考察了儿童的语言能力和经历如何影响他们对言语不流利的产生和理解。语音不流利，包括填充词‘eh’和‘um’，在自发的语言产生中很常见，并且可靠地出现在难以提取的单词(例如，对话中出现频率较低或新出现的单词)之前。成年人利用填充物和生产困难之间的这种联系来预测即将到来的新奇事物，但儿童产生和理解填充物的机制却知之甚少。对于患有发育性语言障碍(DLD)和/或接触一种以上语言的儿童(双语儿童)来说尤其如此。这项建议的首要目标是考察具有各种语言技能和经验的儿童对填充词的产生和理解。研究人员测量了儿童自然语言中填充词的产生，并测量了他们在听力任务中理解不流利的能力。代表各种语言能力(从学习困难到典型语言(TD))的单语和双语学龄儿童参与了研究。在多项研究中，研究人员测量了自然语言中填充语的产生，操纵任务要求以阐明不流利的后果，并通过监测儿童在听力任务中的眼睛凝视来调查填充语的理解。语言能力(TD与DLD)和双语能力的影响通过核心语言分数和语言接触年限进行持续检验。该项目考察了支持填充语使用和理解的因素，并对言语实践者如何在临床环境中测量和使用不流利具有影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This doctoral dissertation project examines how children’s language abilities and experiences impact their production and comprehension of speech disfluencies. Speech disfluencies, including fillers 'uh' and 'um', are common in spontaneous language production and reliably precede difficult-to-retrieve words (e.g., words that are low-frequency or new to a conversation). Adults harness this association between fillers and production difficulty to anticipate upcoming novelty, but the mechanisms underlying children’s production and comprehension of fillers are poorly understood. This is particularly so for children who have Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and/or are exposed to more than one language (bilingual children). The overarching goal of this proposal is to examine both production and comprehension of fillers in children with a range of language skills and experiences. The researchers measure children’s production of fillers in natural speech as well as measure their ability to understand disfluency in a listening task. Monolingual and bilingual school-aged children representing a full range of language ability (from DLD to typical language (TD)) participate in the studies. Across multiple studies, the researchers measure filler production in natural speech, manipulating task demands to elucidate the consequences for disfluency and investigate filler comprehension by monitoring children’s eye gaze during a listening task. Effects of language ability (TD vs. DLD) and bilingualism are examined continuously, through core language scores and years of language exposure. The project examines the factors that support filler use and comprehension, and it has implications for how speech practitioners measure and use disfluencies within clinical settings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.