Stuttering in Mandarin-speaking adults

Mandarin, a tonal language, features four distinct lexical tones (T1, T2, T3, T4) and one neutral tone (T0), each with unique pitch variations. This exploratory study examined the relationship between these tones and stuttering in 26 Mandarin-speaking adults. The amount of stuttering that occurred for each type of tone was identified and analysed according to absolute occurrence across tones, as well as the relative occurrence within each type of tone. Significant differences were found in absolute occurrence of stuttering across tones with the neutral tone (T0) showing the lowest stuttering frequency and T3 and T4 the highest. The relative occurrence of stuttering also identified the lowest stuttering for T0; however, the four lexical tones did not significantly differ. The results suggest that a specific type of lexical tone is unlikely to trigger a moment of stutter. Rather, it is the variation in tonal patterns during the speech stream that leads to a disruption in fluency.