The term 'speak haltingly' can be described by two crossword solutions: STUTTER and STAMMER. Stuttering is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the person who stutters is unable to produce sounds. Stammering is similar to stuttering but is characterized by repetitions of whole syllables, words or phrases. Both stuttering and stammering can cause the speaker to speak haltingly.