Multilingual Aspects of Fluency Disorders. Communication Disorders across Languages

This book contains contributions by scholars working on diverse aspects of speech who bring their findings to bear on the practical issue of how to treat stuttering in different language groups and in multilingual speakers. The book considers classic issues in speech production research, as well as whether regions of the brain that are affected in people who stutter relate to areas used intensively in fluent bilingual speech. It then reviews how formal language properties and differential use of parts of language affect stuttering in English, and then compares these findings to work on stuttering in a variety of languages. Finally, the book addresses methodological issues to do with studies on bilingualism and stuttering; and discusses which approach is appropriate in the treatment of bilingual and multilingual people who stutter. Part 1: Procedures, Methods, and Findings for Language and Its Disorders, contains: (1) The Speech of Fluent Child Bilinguals (Annick de Houwer); (2) Speech Production in Simultaneous and Sequential Bilinguals (Ineke Mennen); (3) Genetics and Language (Katharina Dworzynski); and (4) Brain Structure and Function in Developmental Stuttering and Bilingualism (Kate E. Watkins and Denise Klein). Part 2: Monolingual Language Diversity and Stuttering, contains: (5) The Speech and Language Characteristics of Developmental Stuttering in English Speakers (Peter Howell and Sarah Rusbridge); (6) Stuttering in Japanese (Akira Ujihira); (7) Disfluent Speech Characteristics of Monolingual Spanish-Speaking Children (B. Watson, Courtney T. Byrd and Edna J. Carlo); (8) Characteristics of Developmental Stuttering in Iran (Hamid Karimi and Reza Nilipour); (9) Stuttering Research in Brazil: An Overview (Monica de Britto Pereira); (10) A Survey on Traditional Treatment Practices for Stuttering in Sub-Saharan Africa (Anne-Marie Simon). Part 3: Bilingual Language Diversity, Stuttering and Its Treatment, provides: (11) Review of Research on the Relationship between Bilingualism and Stuttering (John van Borsel); (12) Stuttering in English-Mandarin Bilinguals in Singapore (Valerie P.C. Lim and Michelle Lincoln); (13) Linguistic Analysis of Stuttering in Bilinguals: Methodological Challenges and Solutions (Pei-Tzu Tsai, Valerie P.C. Lim, Shelley B. Brundage and Nan Bernstein Ratner); (14) Treating Bilingual Stuttering in Early Childhood: Clinical Updates and Applications (Rosalee C. Shenker); and (15) Methodology Matters (Patricia M. Roberts). Part 4: Conclusions, provides: (16) Fluency Disorders and Language Diversity: Lessons Learned and Future Directions (Peter Howell and John van Borsel).