Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology & Gerontology

First Advisor

Linda Rueckert

Abstract

Research on bilingualism has played a key role in understanding language and cognitive processes. It has sparked ongoing debates about whether speaking more than one language enhances cognitive abilities or potentially limits these capacities. One behavior often examined in this context is stuttering, which has been studied in relation to bilingualism as far back as 1937. While some studies report no difference in stuttering rates between bilinguals and monolinguals, others suggest that bilinguals may be more prone to stuttering. The current study sought to further explore this issue through an online survey examining the experiences of bilingual and monolingual English speaking participants. Unlike many previous studies that relied solely on participants with an official stuttering diagnosis, this study included individuals who self-identified as having experienced stuttering, capturing those who may have not had access or to or pursued a clinical evaluation. Participants were asked whether they stuttered, under what circumstances, and how frequently. A total of 71 participants completed the survey: 33 identified as bilingual, 37 as monolingual, and one did not specify. Only five participants reported having a formal diagnosis, but 28 reported experiencing stuttering. Two participants did not answer the question, while 41 reported no stuttering. Among bilinguals 52% reported stuttering compared to 31% of monolinguals, a difference that approached statistical significance (p = .077). Bilingual participants reported the same rate of stuttering in both their first and second-languages. The rate of stuttering did not correlate with second-language fluency or age of acquisition. Findings suggest that bilingual individuals may be more likely than monolinguals to perceive themselves as stuttering, highlighting the importance of considering self perception, language background and access to diagnostic resources in future research on bilingualism and speech disfluency.

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