Conflict Talk: Conversations between Expert PWS and Novice PWS

Hiroaki Kobayashi and Charlie Watanabe

Self-help groups for PWS are a rich and insightful resource for understanding how PWS experience life. Discourse data from these groups suggest that "expert" PWS and "novice" PWS experience "life with stuttering" in different ways. In this study, intergenerational discourse among PWS was analyzed drawing on the sociolinguistic research of discourse analysis and conflict talk. Results show that each group struggles to manage conversational order while negotiating their stuttering identities through demonstrating their beliefs about "life with stuttering" and their experiences. Multiple ways of understanding stuttering identity are offered for effective PWS self-help group discussions.