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From: Peter Reitzes
Date: 12 Oct 2009
Time: 18:47:58 -0500
Remote Name: 76.15.239.95
Yirmyaho, great questions, thanks for asking them. You ask, “when you say pausing, for how many seconds you do that? is it in the range of normal?” Pausing is used for different reasons such as a rate control strategy to prevent the frequency of stuttering (a preventative measure), to resist time pressure, to allow a stuttering moment to pass, to plan how to proceed, etc. The speaker should experiment with pausing for different durations. For example, when using pausing as rate control I have found it useful to practice pausing for a full second, for a fraction of a second, for 1-2 seconds, etc. The speaker will have to find what is comfortable for him or her. As far as “the range of normal goes,” the hope is that the more the speaker uses pausing, the more comfortable he or she becomes with it. But to me, pausing isn’t about sounding normal or abnormal. Remember, we are up against stuttering which most would agree does not sound “normal.” So I think it is too much to expect that our strategies to work on stuttering sound “normal”, especially when the strategies are first being learned and practiced.