ABSTRACT

There is a substantial body of evidence pointing to an association between stuttering and problems with processing linguistic information at phonological, syntactic and lexical levels. This chapter examines how research has driven theories and models of stuttering as a language-based disorder. Nonword repetition appears to be problematic for children who stutter. The chapter examines the evidence for stuttering being associated with difficulties with phonological encoding, and the ramifications for the development of the Covert Repair Hypothesis (CRH), which argues that stuttering is related to an unstable phonological system. The CRH and the EXPLAN model of fluency failure offer opposing perspectives on stuttering development. The Vicious Circle Hypothesis (VCH) takes as a central tenet the idea that the same factors that increase or decrease the vigilance of the monitoring system are the very same factors that directly affect the severity of stuttering. Stalling refers to the postponement of upcoming linguistic elements and affects supralexical aspects of language.