English

Alternative forms

• covert stutter

Noun

covert stuttering ‎(uncountable)

1. (psychology, speech pathology) A manner of speaking in which a person who stutters is careful to avoid words, sounds, and other stimuli which trigger instances of stuttering.
   • 1991, Kerry E. Lewis, "The Structure of Disfluency Behaviors in the Speech of Adult Stutterers," Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, vol. 34, p. 482:

     Covert stuttering is characterized by accessory features such as word substitutions, interjections, and stopping.

   • 2006, David Ward, Stuttering & Cluttering, ISBN 9781841693347, p. 271 (Google preview):

     [C]overt stuttering, also known as interiorized stuttering . . . may include avoidance of words or sounds, certain situations, certain people, and so on.

   • 2006, Dale F. Williams, Stuttering Recovery: Personal and Empirical Perspectives, ISBN 9780805857344, p. 151 (Google preview):

     Another mistaken impression is that covert stuttering is just a mild form of stuttering.

   • 2011, Jill E. Douglas, An Investigation of the Transition Process from Covert Stuttering to Overt Stuttering: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of Individuals Who Stutter, PhD dissertation, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, p. 16:

     Though this form of stuttering is a well-recognized clinical phenomenon, research on the topic of covert stuttering is insignificant (Boodstein and Berstein Ratner, 2008).

2. An instance of such a manner of speaking.

Synonyms

• interiorized stuttering

References

• covert stuttering at stutteredspeechsyndrome.com.