Exactly! The real stutter, I guess, is when we say nothing at all—just as you said. If we speak anyway (during this approach-avoidance conflict I would call it?), then the outward disfluencies are heard (transpiring as manifestations). But—although this is just my personal conjecture—the *real* stutter, where we don’t even try to say something, seems to occur in response to our subconscious evaluation of “something,” combined with a high expectation (which I think is rooted in a maladaptive, long-held belief). Then prior to a stuttering block, if our subconscious evaluates a conditioned stimulus negatively(that's been associated with this "staying quiet behavior?". This may then result in some sort of inner conflict, possibly associated with fear of social rejection. We often say: *“Even if we don’t feel social anxiety or pressure, we still stutter.”* But the thing is, we *can’t feel* the root fear. So: this root fear.. I don't think it's the “popular” kind of social anxiety—the kind that feels like imminent danger. No, I think the root fear is far more subtle, akin to our subconscious perceiving “something” as an obstacle that prevents speech from proceeding. Over time, this may have become a reflexive response—where the subconscious keeps (unnecessarily) protecting us from this emotional baggage in a maladaptive way to evaluate stimuli for speech management. But that’s just me rambling—I could be wrong. Do you also think that the evaluation process prior to a stuttering block primarily influences stuttering severity? (State over trait?)