Lay people's judgements of storytellers as mentally retarded or not retarded

Data from a study designed to elicit the criteria lay people use in judging whether speakers are mentally retarded or not retarded on the basis of speech samples were analysed to determine the factors explicitly stated to be the principal criteria. Two distinct patterns were discovered. In judging speakers as 'mentally retarded', a single feature of voice, speech or discourse evaluated as 'poor' was cited in the majority of cases. In judging speakers as 'not retarded', judges invoked multiple reasons in the majority of cases. Some feature of voice or speech was the most important single factor in correct identifications of mentally retarded speakers.