The interaction of bilingualism and stuttering in an adult

The relation between bilingualism and stuttering was examined in a bilingual adult who stutters. Language ability in English and Afrikaans was assessed through the use of cloze and language proficiency tests. Anticipation, adaptation and consistency of stuttering were investigated. Frequency, distribution and nature of disfluencies on narrative and procedural tasks were analyzed according to a modified version of the Systematic Disfluency Analysis (SDA) (Campbell & Hill, 1987). Results indicated that language ability influenced frequency, distribution and nature of disfluencies. The subject was more proficient and stuttered less in his predominant language. Implications for the interaction of language and stuttering were discussed. Clinical strategies for dealing with bilingual stutterers were considered.