Similar within-utterance loci of dysfluency in acquired neurogenic and persistent developmental stuttering

Although the underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown for both persistent developmental stuttering (PSD) and acquired neurogenic stuttering (ANS), few studies have examined similarities/differences between these two disorders. We evaluated in both PDS (n = 35) and ANS (n = 5) phonetic, word class, word length, and word position variables that are widely believed to influence at which loci within utterances PDS speakers’ stuttering is most likely to occur. For both groups, (a) word weights based on the combination of variables were greater for stuttered vs. fluent words, and (b) stuttered words were loaded more by individual variables. However, contrary to long-standing views regarding PDS, greater loading for stuttered words was not found for the position variable. Findings suggest similar loci of stuttering in adults with PDS and ANS, and, for both groups, the probability of stuttering on a given word was more influenced by motor production variables than language variables.