Conceptualizations of stuttering based on interviews with people who stutter
Katarzyna Wyrwas
Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicachhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2731-5761
Katarzyna Węsierska
Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicachhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6378-9350
Mikołaj Zarzycki
Bangor University, United Kingdomhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8357-563X
Abstract
This article analyzed a corpus of in-depth, partially structured interviews with 20 adults
who stutter. The analysis revealed that stuttering was conceptualized as: forbidden topic
/ tabu, deviation from the norm, problem / difficulty / obstacle, illness, struggle / enemy,
pain, fear, shame, isolation / social exclusion, lack of freedom, and source of aggression.
Each category reflects specific experiences of people who stutter – from communication
difficulties and psychological discomfort, through feelings of stigmatization and the need
to conceal disfluency, to experiences of social exclusion, withdrawal, or mistreatment by
others. The findings indicate that the language used to describe stuttering often reinforces
negative perceptions of the phenomenon, perpetuates a sense of limitation and isolation,
and shapes strategies for coping with speech disfluency. The study emphasizes that
linguistic and speech therapy analyses should consider the role of language in shaping
experiences, self-perception, and social interactions; it is crucial to incorporate the
perspective of people who stutter.
Keywords:
conceptualization, cognitive linguistics, metaphor, stuttering, stigmatizationReferences
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