disfluency
Verbal stumbling block
Disfluency is any interruption in the smooth flow of speech—pauses, repetitions, filler words like um and uh, false starts, or corrections mid-sentence.
Everyone produces disfluencies in natural speech; they become clinically significant when frequent or severe, as in stuttering.
In linguistics, disfluencies reveal how speakers plan and process language in real time.
Obstructs or sections
- repetitionsActs done again
- stammeringInvoluntary speech repetition
- word-findingAccessing stored vocabulary
- struggleLabored effort against resistance
tension · fragmentation · spasmodic · involuntary · neurogenic · developmental · cluttering · speech impediment
Temporary cessation of activity
- silenceTotal lack of sound
- gapUnfilled space between
- delayEnforced waiting period
- false startPremature beginning violation
restart · revision · self-correction · searching · uncertainty · reformulation · abandonment · trailing off
Neurological language impairment
- dysarthriaMotor speech muscle disorder
- apraxiaVoluntary movement execution deficit
- clutteringDisorganizing with excess items
- mutismAbsence of speech
language impairment · dysphonia · echolalia · diagnosis · assessment · treatment · intervention · therapy
Spoken hesitation marker
- uhVocalized hesitation marker
- erSpoken filler noise
- ahExclamation of realization
- likeComparable to, or enjoy
you know · I mean · so · well · vocalization · interjection · placeholder · hedge
- slipMinor error or misstep
- malapropismSound-alike word confusion
- spoonerismAccidental sound transposition
- perseverationInvoluntary repetition of responses
transposition · substitution · phonological · prosody · utterance · turn-taking · repair · backchannel
blocks
Obstructs or sections
- repetitionsActs done again
- stammeringInvoluntary speech repetition
- word-findingAccessing stored vocabulary
struggle · tension · fragmentation · spasmodic · involuntary · neurogenic · developmental · cluttering · speech impediment · covert
pause
Temporary cessation of activity
false start · restart · revision · self-correction · searching · uncertainty · reformulation · abandonment · trailing off · incomplete
aphasia
Neurological language impairment
- dysarthriaMotor speech muscle disorder
- apraxiaVoluntary movement execution deficit
- clutteringDisorganizing with excess items
mutism · language impairment · dysphonia · echolalia · diagnosis · assessment · treatment · intervention · therapy
um
Spoken hesitation marker
like · you know · I mean · so · well · vocalization · interjection · placeholder · hedge · verbal tic
speech error
- slipMinor error or misstep
- malapropismSound-alike word confusion
- spoonerismAccidental sound transposition
perseveration · transposition · substitution · phonological · prosody · utterance · turn-taking · repair · backchannel · spontaneous
disfluencyeloquence
Persuasive verbal grace
articulateness · fluency · silver tongue · verbal dexterity · mellifluousness
- speech disfluencyInvoluntary breaks in talking
influence, fluid, fluent, fluency, affluent, influx, superfluous, fluctuate, confluence