TY  - JOUR
A1  - Braun, Angelika
A1  - Elsässer, Nathalie
A1  - Willems, Lea
T1  - Disfluencies Revisited—Are They Speaker-Specific?
T2  - Languages
N2  - The forensic application of phonetics relies on individuality in speech. In the forensic domain, individual patterns of verbal and paraverbal behavior are of interest which are readily available, measurable, consistent, and robust to disguise and to telephone transmission. This contribution is written from the perspective of the forensic phonetic practitioner and seeks to establish a more comprehensive concept of disfluency than previous studies have. A taxonomy of possible variables forming part of what can be termed disfluency behavior is outlined. It includes the “classical” fillers, but extends well beyond these, covering, among others, additional types of fillers as well as prolongations, but also the way in which fillers are combined with pauses. In the empirical section, the materials collected for an earlier study are re-examined and subjected to two different statistical procedures in an attempt to approach the issue of individuality. Recordings consist of several minutes of spontaneous speech by eight speakers on three different occasions. Beyond the established set of hesitation markers, additional aspects of disfluency behavior which fulfill the criteria outlined above are included in the analysis. The proportion of various types of disfluency markers is determined. Both statistical approaches suggest that these speakers can be distinguished at a level far above chance using the disfluency data. At the same time, the results show that it is difficult to pin down a single measure which characterizes the disfluency behavior of an individual speaker. The forensic implications of these findings are discussed.
KW  - forensic voice comparison
KW  - hesitations
KW  - fillers
KW  - lengthening
KW  - paraverbal behavior
Y1  - 2023
UR  - https://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2107
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:385-1-21074
VL  - 2023
IS  - Band 8, Heft 3
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -