Hesitation Phenomena in Children's Speech

Abstract

Forty-eight children told two stories in each of two situations: to an audience of four adults, or to a microphone while no one was listening. Various fluency and hesitation variables were scored from the tapes. Subjects are consistent in their fluency and hesitations. A factor analysis of the speech measures yielded four factors. Deliberate hesitations are predictable, for boys, from the personality characteristic, exhibitionism. Stressful hesitations are responsive to whether the child was speaking in public or in private. © 1965, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.