This paper proposes a framework for theorizing about the emergence of stuttering. The implication is that stuttering emerges in the third discursive position of the language acquisition process. In this phase, one can observe pauses, reformulations and self-corrections in children's productions. Because these actions resemble the repetitions and hesitations that characterize stuttering, they lead the other to erroneously attach a pathological interpretation to a set of no pathological events. If the other sees the child as a stutterer, it's still at least partly up to the child to fulfil that role or not. Whether the child does so depends on whether (s)he sees (her)himself as a stutterer. If the child does, further interpretations of his/her speech will be from the context of this role. To support this hypothesis we interviewed the mothers of four children and analysed their discourse based on the French School of Discourse Analysis. The analysis showed the interpretation's effects on the stutterer and points to the need to delineate the child's susceptibility to the effects of the speech of the mother. In conclusion, when thinking about the genesis of stuttering, one should consider three important points: (a) the other's interpretation of the child's speech, (b) what the child hears of his/her own speech, and (c) the symbolic over determination of language - considering repetitions and hesitations as inherent to language acquisition in the child.
discourse analysis; stuttering; language acquisition