Sunday, March 20, 2011

On the origin of our feared letter

I had an interesting thought. I am currently revising a late draft of my upcoming book, and I have a section on stuttering. I was writing about associations with different letters that stutterers might acquire. So for some the letter /d/ might be a problem for others the letter /m/.

Then I realized that /d/ is the first letter of /daddy/, and /m/ of /mommy/. So I was thinking that maybe we develop an association between a stuttering event and the letter that we most or first used as a child in speaking our first words.

So a child might first say /mommy/, and obviously she will first experience delays of speech initiation on the letter /m/. And the brain will look for correlations, and realize that when I have to say /m/, I am likely to have issues. So the brain stores an association between the letter /m/ and a stuttering event. My guess is that if you fear /d/, you might have been a daddy child! Or in other languages, /p/ for /papa/.

Students: here is a final year project: test my theory!
  1. find stutterers 
  2. ask them about their feared letter.
  3. ask them whether they were mummy or daddy children.
  4. find stutterers from different countries where daddy does not start with /d/ or mother not with /m/.
  5. analyse data: especially compare countries.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there a possibility that some sounds are more complex than others and that is the reason stuttering occurs?

What I've always thought is the all words have an equal probability of stuttering unless we have thoughts about certain words being problematic, for instance realizing an m word is about to be said while knowing m words are a problem.

Then once we stutter certain sounds are harder to regain control on. I heard 'w' and 'r' are very complex and this is something I've spent a lot of time practicing to say if I stutter. Right now I'm having stuttering on m and n words, but only if I realize I'm about to say one of them. Periodically, I'll say a word like that and then realize I didn't stutter afterwards, but not if I think about what I'm saying.

KJBourgault said...

My trouble consonants have morphed over my life. First it was hard sounds like /K/, then /B/, then softer sounds like /L/ and /F/. Today it is the /ST/ dipthong and /R/ sounds at the beginning of the words. In short, I think I have hit every single combination at one time or another and have found that no day and no stutter are alike.

Jerome said...

I'm not sure this theory will survive the stats ... it sounds quite speculative.

For example: currently I'm, from time to time, at war with the vocals rather than the consonants. Especially the A !?

In my case it's more like I notice having had some blocks with a certain letter and that makes me tense preemptively each time I notice them coming. So it's mostly in the head again. I'm quite sure it would go ok if I wasn't thinking about, and wasn't afraid of, them ...

Tom Weidig said...

@Anonym: maybe complexity also plays a role.

Fito (Adolfo) Pardo said...

Not really, I guess this concept you have is just for some, I am from Mexico and Daddy is Papa and with "P" I don't have any problem, and my father was way more dominant than my mother, I do have a problem with "M" and I do have a problem with "A" but the way you pronounce "A" in english is different than in spanish, I don't have the problem with "A" in english, like my name is "Adolfo", I can't say it (in spanish) in english is easier, is just spanish-english are different sounds.

But is an interesting pont you have here.

Pam said...

What exactly do you mean if they were mummy or daddy children? Do you mean "favored" by mother more than father? Please clarify that!

cesar m. said...

This article has won you my crackpot award. How FFFFFreudian of you!

Anonymous said...

cesar m. congratulations for completely missing the point of Tom's post.

Anonymous said...

cesar m. didn't miss the point. In fact, cesar m. was too gentle as Tom's post definitely deserves a crackpot award. He always claims that what others say is not scientific enough, and then this.... Oops. Anyone claiming to know anything about stuttering should at the very least know the typical age of onset of stuttering and understand that it is NOT during "our first words." (most likely Tom will eventually realize his mistake and argue that he did not say stuttering starts as early as the first words, but he clearly did say that in the sentences "So I was thinking that maybe we develop an association between a stuttering event and the letter that we most or first used as a child in speaking our first words." and "So a child might first say /mommy/, and obviously she will first experience delays of speech initiation on the letter /m/."

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 22:39 CET and Cesar M.

Tom doesn't say anything about a theory that says the first words have a relationship between what words become feared. He is presenting an experiment. There is a big difference. You both missed the point. (But I do think the data would be ambiguous.)

Tom Weidig said...

@Last Anonym:

Yes, you are right. I am not saying that kids start stuttering due to the parents. I am saying that the content of the symptoms, like word associations, are shaped by their immediate environment.

Yes, I am not saying that it is a fact. I am saying that someone could do this experiment and see the distribution of feared letters.

And I agree that the data might be ambiguous, but nevertheless a student could try this project out and see what's out there. Maybe it works.

@SecondLast: Stuttering is not apparent at word level and only starts later. But the kids might well already feel some delays. In any case, it's irrelevant. The point is on learned associations after stuttering events.

Anonymous said...

Yes Tom we figured you would say that "it's irrelevant" when your mistakes are pointed out. You so definitely did say that associations are learned when stuttering occurs on the child's first words (which made absolutely no sense).

Tariq said...

So a child might first say /mommy/, and obviously she will first experience delays of speech initiation on the letter /m/. And the brain will look for correlations, and realize that when I have to say /m/, I am likely to have issues.


Tom, It is very interesting thought and its true in my case I am from asian country my fear words dont start with letter /m/ or /d/

Thanks for your great work.

Anonymous said...

My feared words are with n,m because of my name, but only if I realize I'm going to say a word like that. I just don't have a good plan for what to do if I stutter.

Anonymous said...

Maybe our feared letter is related to our first or last name. I have no issue saying my last or middle name though.

Anonymous said...

Ur feared words are the words that u talk most.

If u stutter on one word, the brain remembers it but ur fear ensures that the next time u say that word ur stutter again.
Ur brain then slowly gets used to this and thats y u stutter on that word.

Same with sentences.
Its a learned habit.
thats y u usually know when u will stutter on some word/sentence and try to avoid it cuz fear sets in.

To break that habit as i said, u must say a word properly and confidently and then if u do it properly a couple of times, the fear will go and even ur brain will no longer fear that word.

That is y i say
PRACTICE,PRACTICE

u can gain 90% fluency with practice and slow speech. dont hurry. it is hard but not impossible.

I know most of u wont do it but TRY. try for a day or 2 and see the results.

An almost silent one said...

To the "Ur feared words..." anonymous ---

R U a freakin' FLUENCY NAZI or what...???

Anonymous said...

The 'almost silent one' spoke :)
good

An almost silent one said...

Didn't speak...Only wrote. ;-) !!!

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I agree, this is a crackpot post....can't believe it came from Tom.

Tom, please accept your Crackpot Award.

No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes