disfluency

English

Alternative forms

• dysfluency

Etymology

From dis- +‎ fluency.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪsflʊənsi/, /dɪsˈfluːənsi/

Noun

disfluency (countable and uncountable, plural disfluencies)

1. Lack of fluency in speech; any of various breaks, irregularities, and non-lexical vocables that occur within otherwise fluent speech.
   • 2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     To the long list of everyday afflictions that includes dry, itchy skin and restless leg syndrome, add another: speech disfluency.

   • 2012, Donald K. Routh, Judy Lynne Perlman, “The Clinical Uses of Punishment: Bane or Boon?”, in Donald K. Routh, editor, Learning, Speech, and the Complex Effects of Punishment, →ISBN, page 198:

     Siegel considered at some length, without resolving it, the apparent paradox between traditional views of stuttering and modern demonstrations that punishment (i.e. contingent aversive stimulation) tends to decrease disfluency.

   • 2022, Simon Williams, Disfluency and Proficiency in Second Language Speech Production, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 1:

     Disfluency is a relatively recent construct. Not until the last century did fluency with the specific meaning of ease of speaking become a subject of widespread interest; and only in the mid-twentieth century did its corollary, the absence of such a facility, become the focus of systematic empirical study.

Derived terms

• speech disfluency

Related terms

• disfluent