| dc.description.abstract | Stuttering can be defined as speech characterized by repetitions and
prolongations of syllables, sounds and words, which lead to an abnormal set
standard of speech.
This study is a single case-study of a girl, aged four and half years, who
manifests stuttering in her speech. This investigation seeks to verify the linguistic
properties that are perceived to be inherently "difficult" for stutterers, particularly
those living in a multilingual setting such as Nairobi. The subject under
investigation is exposed to English, Kiswahili and to a limited extent to Kimeru
and Kikuyu.
The conceptual framework consisted of Anticipatory Struggle Theories.
The main objectives of this study were to give a detailed analysis of the linguistic
characteristics like the grammatical class, the length of the word and the position
of a word in a sentence frequently stuttered as manifested in the speech of the
subject under investigation. This entailed investigating whether the subject
stuttered more severely in one language than on others. The data analyzed
consisted of the spontaneous speech of the subject in different contexts and
people. This was then collected through video- and/or tape recordings.
The conclusions were that stuttering occurred most frequently on function words,
word-initial sounds and multi-syllabic words. In addition, stuttering was more
likely to occur in Kiswahili as compared to English, which we attribute to the
subject's exposure to English being more than her exposure to Kiswahili.
This thesis is divided into six chapters, each dealing with a particular aspect of
the investigation. Chapter one the introduction, presents background information
on stuttering, the statement of the problem, the objectives of the study, the
hypotheses, significance and justification, scope and limitations, the methodology
and the conceptual framework. Chapter two reviewed the available literature on
stuttering. In particular, the chapter discussed studies which have been
previously carried out on the linguistic properties of stuttered speech and the
stages of development of stuttering. Chapter three focuses on the primary
characteristics of stuttering. Chapter four looks at the phonological attributes of
the stuttered linguistic elements. Chapter five analyzes the severity of stuttering
in English as compared to Kiswahili as well as the structure of code-switched and
code-mixed words produced during stuttering. Lastly, in chapter six conclusions
and recommendations are given. | en |
