L1 and L2 Production of Non-Lexical Hesitation Particles of German and English Native Speakers

This study focuses on the vowel quality of non-lexical hesitation particles produced by 24 English and German native speakers in their native language (L1) and their second language (L2) both of which are English and German. The aim is to show that a) English and German hesitation particles employ a different vowel quality and b) L2-learners of the respective language can adapt the native-like vowel quality if they are sufficiently proficient in their L2

L1 and L2 Production of Non-Lexical Hesitation Particles of German and English Native Speakers

This study focuses on the vowel quality of non-lexical hesitation particles produced by 24 English and German native speakers in their native language (L1) and their second language (L2) both of which are English and German. The aim is to show that a) English and German hesitation particles employ a different vowel quality and b) L2-learners of the respective language can adapt the native-like vowel quality if they are sufficiently proficient in their L2

Conversation therapy for agrammatism: exploring the therapeutic process of engagement and learning by a person with aphasia.

A recent systematic review of conversation training for communication partners of people with aphasia has shown that it is effective, and improves participation in conversation for people with chronic aphasia. Other research suggests that people with aphasia are better able to learn communication strategies in an environment which closely mirrors that of expected use, and that cognitive flexibility may be a better predictor of response to therapy than severity of language impairment. This study reports results for a single case, one of a case series evaluation of a programme of conversation training for agrammatism that directly involves a person with aphasia (PWA) as well as their communication partner. It explores how a PWA is able to engage with and learn from the therapy, and whether this leads to qualitative change in post-therapy conversation behaviours

A better conversations approach for people living with dysarthria

In this chapter, the authors describe better conversations with dysarthria (BCD) therapy featuring a man living with Parkinson’s disease and his communication partner. A better conversations approach aims to help people with communication difficulties to have more enjoyable interactions. The authors outline the pre-post therapy assessment process, the intervention itself and highlight a specific outcome relating to responses to the communication partner’s turns. They also present data on the acceptability of BCD. This is the first BCD therapy case to be published and as such provides an important reference point for future work in this field

Joint planning in conversations with a person with aphasia

This study explores practices employed by a person with aphasia (PWA) and his wife to organize joint planning sequences and negotiate deontic rights (a participants' entitlement to initiate planning sequences and the entitlement to accept or reject a plan). We analyze two different conversations between a man with aphasia and his wife and their adult daughter. Using Conversation Analysis (CA), we identify practices that further the PWA's participation in the interaction while planning afternoon activities together with his wife. The PWA contributes to the planning talk by initiating and modifying planning sequences. The spouse supports his participation by aligning with his initiated actions and inviting him to collaborate in planning talk she initiates. Deontic authority is shared between the conversation partners and the PWA's agency is facilitated even during disagreement. The analysis offers insight into practices that allow a PWA to use his limited communicative resources to contribute competently to planning talk

Distributional and Acoustic Characteristics of Filler Particles in German with Consideration of Forensic-Phonetic Aspects

In this study, we investigate the use of the filler particles (FPs) uh, um, hm, as well as glottal FPs and tongue clicks of 100 male native German speakers in a corpus of spontaneous speech. For this purpose, the frequency distribution, FP duration, duration of pauses surrounding FPs, voice quality of FPs, and their vowel quality are investigated in two conditions, namely, normal speech and Lombard speech. Speaker-specific patterns are investigated on the basis of twelve sample speakers. Our results show that tongue clicks and glottal FPs are as common as typically described FPs, and should be a part of disfluency research. Moreover, the frequency of uh, um, and hm decreases in the Lombard condition while the opposite is found for tongue clicks. Furthermore, along with the usual F1 increase, a considerable reduction in vowel space is found in the Lombard condition for the vowels in uh and um. A high degree of within- and between-speaker variation is found on the individual speaker level