Discussion in 'All Languages' started by Gavril, Dec 6, 2013.

  1. Gavril Senior Member

    English, USA

    What is the term in your language for stuttering, or a person who stutters?

    In some languages, the verb "to stutter" seems to be the primary element:

    Slovene jecljati "to stutter" > jecljavec "stutterer"

    In other cases, the noun/adjective meaning "person who stutters" seems to be more fundamental:

    French bègue "stutterer" > bégayer "stutter"

    In still other cases, the noun meaning "the act of stuttering" may be the simplest form, but I haven't found any clear examples of this yet.
  2. merquiades

    merquiades Senior Member

    USA Northeast
    Spanish would be in your second group
    Tartamudo - tartamudear - tartamudez
  3. ahmedcowon Senior Member

    In Arabic, the root is تءتء (tʔtʔ):

    to stutter = تأتأ /taʔtaʔa/
    stuttering = تأتأة /taʔtaʔah/
    stutterer = متأتئ /mutaʔteʔ/

    [ʔ = glottal stop]
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2013
  4. ancalimon Senior Member

    kekelemek (verb) and kekeme (noun). It seems like an onomatopoeic word.
  5. Gavril Senior Member

    English, USA
    Google Translate suggests that kekeme can mean either the action of stuttering, or a person who stutters. Is that accurate?
  6. ancalimon Senior Member

    No it's wrong. The action of stuttering is "kekelemek"

    Example: Adam çocukluğundan beri kekeliyor : The man is stuttering since his childhood.
    Example: Adam bir kekeme : The man is a stutterer.
  7. Gavril Senior Member

    English, USA
    I meant a noun referring to the action of stuttering -- e.g.,

    Stuttering can be a symptom of stress.

    I have had a stutter since I was a young man.

    How would Turkish translate the highlighted words? (Or, would Turkish rephrase these sentences using a verb?)
  8. arielipi Senior Member

    גמגם g-m-g-m
    מגמגם megamgem is a sttuter person
  9. Encolpius

    Encolpius Senior Member


    stuttering --- dadogás
    stutterer --- dadogó
    to stutter --- dadog [1585]
  10. kloie Senior Member

    houston tx
    american english from texas
    in serbian
  11. apmoy70

    apmoy70 Senior Member

    Hi Gavril,

    In Greek the adjective produced the verb:

    Adj. «Tραυλός, -λή, -λό» [tra'vlos] (masc.), [tra'vli] (fem.), [tra'vlo] (neut.) --> stammerer, stutterer < Classical adj. «τραυλός, -λὴ, -λόν» traulós (masc.), traulè (fem.), traulón (neut.) --> person mispronouncing letters, stammerer, stutterer with obscure etymology (possibly pre-Greek). Interestingly, its construction follows Greek rule for constructing adjectives indicating physical or psychical defects, e.g. «τυφ-λός tupʰlós --> blind, «χω-λός kʰōlós --> lame, limping, «δει-λός deilós --> coward.
    Verb: «Τραυλίζω» [tra'vlizo] < Classical v. «τραυλίζω» traulízō & «ὑποτραυλίζω» hŭpŏtraulízō --> to speak deficiently, lisping, stammering.

    In the colloquial language, we use «βραδύγλωσσος, -σση, -σσο» [vra'ðiɣlosos] (masc.), [vra'ðiɣlosi] (fem.), [vra'ðiɣloso] (neut.) which is a...French loan bradyglossie > «βραδυγλωσσία» [vraðiɣlo'si.a] (fem. noun), adj. «βραδύγλωσσος» [vra'ðiɣlosos] --> lit. slow-tongue (movement)

    «Tραυλός» in Modern Greek is the person who stutters (repeats or prolongs sounds/syllables). The person who mispronounces letters is «ψευδός, -δή, -δό» [psev'ðos] (masc.), [psev'ði] (fem.), [psev'ðo] (neut.) < Byz. Gr. adj. «ψευδής, -δής, -δές» psevdḗs (masc. & fem.), psevdés (neut.) --> lit. person mispronouncing letters cognate to Classical adj. «ψευδής» psevdḗs --> lying person, liar < Classical neut. noun «ψεῦδος» pseûdŏs --> falsehood, lie (with obsure etymology, possibly pre-Greek)
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2013
  12. bibax Senior Member


    verb: koktati (< *kokotati, to cluck/cackle like a hen: Ko-ko-ko-kolumbie);

    verbal noun: koktání;

    stutter: kokta, koktavec, it is rather derogatory, the logopedists use: balbutik;

    adjective: koktavý;

    speech disorder: koktavost, balbutismus, balbuties;

    Russian: заикаться - the Czech cognate is zajíkati se, it is used rather in the case when someone is faltering from loss of courage or confidence (no speech disorder);

    Slovak: jachtať - Czech cognate jektati (to chatter) is used when someone is very cold (also no disorder, it's physiological);
  13. ThomasK Senior Member

    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    Dutch: stotteren (verb), stotteraar (person: -er), gestotter (the stuttering).

    I think we express it by referring to force (st-t, plosive sounds preceded by fricative), and then reiteration (iterative are characterized by -eren in Dutch, -er in English). I think most equivalents I can see here, have a reduplicated plosive (kek, kok, g-m, t-t, ...).
  14. lingpil

    lingpil Senior Member

    German & Russian

    to stutter: stottern; the stutterer: der Stotterer; the stuttering: das Gestotter


    to stutter: зaикaться (za-ikatsya); the stutterer: зaикa(za-ika); the stuttering: зaикaние (za-ikaniye)

    In Russian there is this important stop after the first syllable, since it's just a prefix. Otherwise the stutterer could be confused with a little bunny (зaйкa) which is pronounced with a diphthong.
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2013
  15. Outsider Senior Member

    Portuguese (Portugal)
    The same word exists in Portuguese, but far more common are:

    stutterer = gago
    stutter (noun) = gaguez (gago + ez)
    to stutter = gaguejar (gago + (ej)ar)

    Again, the base word is the adjective, in this case clearly onomatopoetic. As for "tartamudo", it's related to "mudo", dumb in the sense of not speaking.
  16. SuperXW

    SuperXW Senior Member

    In Chinese:
    (verb, noun, the person, adjective, adverb... any part of speech)
    You can duplicate the characters to make the word longer and more lively: 结结巴巴. (Except for the noun.)
  17. SuperXW

    SuperXW Senior Member

    And a more formal word 口吃.
    Those are common Mandarin words. However, different regions would have different expressions.
  18. Grefsen

    Grefsen Senior Member

    Southern California
    English - United States

    Stamming -

    From the Norwegian verb "å stamme" (to stutter/stammer).
  19. ancalimon Senior Member

    Just saw this.

    Stuttering can be a symptom of stress. > Kekemelik
    I have had a stutter since I was a young man. > Kekemelik

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