Co-constructing meaning in acquired speech disorders: Word and letter repetition in the construction of turns

Abstract

For an individual with a severe speech disorder (dysarthria) relating to an acquired neurological condition such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease or multiple sclerosis the ability to produce intelligible speech can become increasingly difficult as the underlying pathology progresses (Duffy 1995; Yorkston et al. 2002). This unintelligibility may then lead to troubles in interaction. Robillard (1994, 1999) for example reports specific problems relating to the timing of turns and the context of prior talk as well as difficulties in initiating repair. Additional work highlighting socially consensual ‘real time’ in talk, states that problems in temporal co-ordination may be seen as contributing to the perception of communicative (in)competence among people with speech disorders (Higginbotham and Wilkins 1999).