Cognition and Talk: The Relationship of Semantic Units to Temporal Patterns of Fluency in Spontaneous Speech

Abstract

This paper reports two studies concerning the relationship of temporal rhythms in speech fluency to the ideational content of the discourse. Action assembly theory is employed to advance the prediction that when subjects are not allowed to prepare speech in advance of actual production, there will be a tendency for ideational boundaries to be associated with a decrease in speech fluency. This relationship was hypothesized to be attenuated, however, when the structure of the discourse (as opposed to the content) has been prepared in advance. The first prediction was borne out in Experiment 1 in that five of seven ideational boundaries were found to be associated with a decrease in speech fluency (at p < 0.10). Experiment 2 showed that this relationship was, indeed, attenuated under conditions of structural preparation in advance of speech.