taru-adjective, adverb taking the 'to' particle
haltingly; falteringly; stammeringly
Describes speech that is hesitant, broken, or delivered with difficulty. Often used with verbs like 話す or 語る, and commonly takes the と particle. The word itself is somewhat literary.
彼は訥々と自分の意見を述べた。
He haltingly expressed his opinion.
訥々とした話し方だったが、内容は深かった。
It was a faltering way of speaking, but the content was profound.
Variant kanji form using 吶, which also means 'stutter' or 'slow of speech'.
どもる is a verb meaning 'to stutter' or 'to stammer' as a speech disorder or habit, while 訥々 describes the manner of speech itself as halting or faltering, often in a literary context.
たどたどしい is an adjective meaning 'awkward' or 'halting' in speech or movement, more colloquial and broader than 訥々, which is specifically for speech and has a literary tone.
The word is a reduplication of the kanji 訥 (or 吶), which carries the meaning 'stutter' or 'hesitate in speech'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it likely originated as a mimetic or onomatopoeic expression for hesitant speech.