| Abstract |
| Past work has indicated that flustered
or confused speech can be classed into several distinct speech disturbance categories.
Such disturbances, occurring frequently in everyday conversation, have no
conventional semantic function. In the present study, 25 experimental and 20 control
male Ss were used. Anxiety was manipulated in an interview setting. Under
anxiety, the frequency of all speech disturbances, except the familiar "ah,"
showed a sizable increase. The frequency of ah's increased strikingly in a change
from normal to a telephonelike conversation. Such change did not affect the other
disturbances. Measurement of palmar sweat revealed modest positive association with
the speech disturbances. Exploration of the relationship of the Taylor Manifest
Anxiety scale to the disturbances suggested that the ah is functionally distinct from the
other speech disturbances. |
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