What does fast talker mean

But when participants made a concerted effort to speed up, everyone spoke at about the same rate. Fast-talkers appeared to have some advantage over other participants during the speed-reading task, but the differences were slight. To the researchers, the results suggested that there's a non-physiological basis for speech-rate differences. While fast-talkers naturally read aloud at a faster pace, researchers surmised that most people top out at about the same speed.

The study, though preliminary, helps deflate one theory of fast-talking, that fast-talkers are physically superior specimens. So while Michael Phelps' body was engineered to break records, mine probably isn't. But my brain might be. As a little kid, I clung to the idea that I spoke quickly because I thought quickly. I floated this cocky and unsubstantiated thesis past Esther Janse , a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.

To my surprise, she went with it. So, I'm talented? It's hard to say. The demands-capacities model explains speech disorders as the result of external demands for fluent speech exceeding someone's capacity to produce that speech. According to Florence Myers , the go-to speech pathologist for ERS, fast-talkers emerge as exceptionally gifted speakers who can exceed normal fluency demands.

But what about a fast-talker who, despite speaking clearly, prattles on quicker than listeners can digest the information? And I'd argue that any kind of incomprehensible speech is a social limitation, even if it is related to other heightened abilities. At least one TV experiment, however, supports the talent theory. In the early s, the Discovery Channel's Superhuman Showdown explored the medical basis of fast-talking in a segment about Fran Capo, the fastest-talking female according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Its readings showed off-the-charts activity in the Broca's area of her brain, a center for language processing. She's been able to use her Broca's area to a greater extent than is normal. People interpret fast talking as a sign of nervousness and a lack of self-confidence.

Your fast talking can make it appear that you don't think people want to listen to you, or that what you have to say is not important. The fact that you don't pause between phrases or at the ends of sentences means that you're not taking in enough air to support your voice.

Your breath stream becomes weak, and the words near the end of your utterance lack volume and clarity. There are other consequences too. Rushing can ruin your diction. When you fly through your words, your tongue and lips can't keep up with your mind, so you drop important vowels and consonants, causing your listeners to miss your meaning. And when they miss your meaning, most won't tell you that they can't understand you.

They may do so out of misplaced kindness, or out of indifference to you and your message, but no matter the cause, you will have lost their attention. So here is an exercise that will cure you of your malady. It was given to me by Marian Rich, a voice and speech teacher in New York who worked with many famous actors to help them improve their vocal presence. The exercise will teach you that your voice is a wind instrument, and you must have ample air in your lungs to play it well.

Before you whisper each phrase, take a full bellyful of air and then pour all the air into that one phrase. Keep your throat open, and don't grind your vocal chords. Lift your whisper over your throat. English Language Learners Definition of fast-talk. More from Merriam-Webster on fast-talk Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for fast-talk. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Test your vocabulary with our question quiz! Love words?

Need even more definitions? Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms The same, but different. Merriam-Webster's Words of the Week - Nov.

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