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

本博士论文项目研究儿童的语言能力和经验如何影响他们对言语不流利的产生和理解。语言不流畅，包括填充词“uh”和“um”，在自发语言产生中很常见，并且在难以检索的单词（例如，低频单词或对话中的新单词）之前可靠地出现。成人利用填充物和制作难度之间的这种联系来预测即将到来的新奇事物，但儿童制作和理解填充物的机制却知之甚少。对于患有发展性语言障碍（DLD）和/或接触多种语言的儿童（双语儿童）来说尤其如此。本提案的总体目标是考察具有一系列语言技能和经验的儿童对填充语的产生和理解。研究人员测量了儿童在自然语言中产生的填充物，以及他们在听力任务中理解不流畅的能力。单语和双语学龄儿童代表了全方位的语言能力（从DLD到典型语言（TD））参与研究。在多项研究中，研究人员测量了自然语言中填充语的产生，操纵任务要求来阐明不流畅的后果，并通过监测儿童在听力任务中的眼睛注视来研究填充语的理解。语言能力（TD vs DLD）和双语能力的影响是通过核心语言分数和语言暴露的年数来持续检查的。该项目考察了支持填充语使用和理解的因素，它对言语从业者如何在临床环境中测量和使用不流畅有影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.