Language Production
and Conversation
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In linguistics, language production is the
production of spoken or written language. It
describes all of the stages between having a
concept, and translating that concept into
linguistic form
Stages of Language Production
Stages of Language Production: conceptualization,
formulation, articulation, self-monitoring
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Conceptualization: a conceptual representation of what to say
Encode message into linguistic form. Select words to express
concepts
Organize words syntactically to convey a message
Articulation: generate auditory/written/signed sequence. Sound
goes from speaker's mouth to hearer's ear
Speech is decoded into linguistic form
Linguistic form is decoded into meaning
Message generation
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Message-conceptual representtaion independent
of particular words
Take into account: level of politeness, speech
acts (question, command, etc.)
Register (slang vs. Formal)
Reference
Listener knowledge
Word selection
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Lexical access: Look up words in mental dictionary. Pick word
that you want to say, based on semantic features. Overcome
competition from semantically similar words. Phonological
features come into play, too. Sentences get built when words
are selected. Gramatical encoding.
Adult english
Speaking vocabulary:........45.000-60.000 words
Speaking rate....................120-150 words/min
Selection error rate..........1 in 1000 words
Word organization
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Apply syntactic and discourse rules to determine
a word sequence: e.g. The glass is filled with water.
vs. Water fills the glass.
Function words
Inflectional morphemes
agreement
Word organization affetcs future word
organization in sentence production
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Syntactic priming:
The voice of a context sentence affects how a
picture is described:
Active voice/passive voice in the context
Self-monitoring
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Production is not a one-way transmission of messages.
Speakers and writers are quickly capable of readjusting
a message at the stages of conceptualization,
formulation, or articulation, depending on where they
noticed the brakdown in production occured.
The fact that native speakers can monitor and quickly
correct mistakes in linguistic output proves Chomsky’s
claim that there is a distinction between performance
and competence.
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There are two main types of research into
speech production. One type focuses on using
the analysis of speech errors.
The other looks at reaction-time data from
picture-naming latencies.
Research into production
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Analysis of speech errors has found that not all are random, but rather
systematic and fall into several categories. Although speech
production is very fast, (2 words per second) the error rate of the
utterances are relatively rare (less than 1/1000) and those errors are
categorized as follows:
Anticipation: The word is in the speaker's mind and ready to be
spoken, but the speaker says it too quickly. This could be because the
speaker is planning and holding words in their mind. Reading
list>leading list
Preservation: The word retains characteristics of a word said
previously in a sentence:
 Taddle Tennis instead of Paddle Tennis
Blending: More than one word is being considered and the two
intended items "blend" into a single item, perhaps implying the
speaker is waffling between a few word options.
 The child is looking to be spaddled instead of spanked or
paddled
Addition: adding of linguistics material, resulting in words like
implossible, blue bug>blue blug
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Substitution: a whole word of related meaning is replacing
another. These errors can be far apart from another, or target
words, and are generally grammatically consistent and
accurate.
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Malapropism: a lay term referring to the incorrect
substitution of words. It is a reference to a character Mrs
Malaprop from Sheridan's The Rivals.
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at low speed it's too light (instead of heavy)
Makes no delusions to the past.
The pineapple of perfection.
I have interceded another letter from the fellow.
Spoonerism: switching the letters from words. For example,
the phrase slips of the tongue could become tips of the slung.
You have missed my history lectures> You have hissed my mistery
lectures
You have wasted the whole term.>You have tasted the whole worm.
The dear old queen.>The queer old dean.
Is the bean dizzy?
Reverend William A. Spooner
Why Speech Errors?
Freudian theory of production errors:
Errors represent unconscious beliefs or desires:
repressed thoughts of some kind.
Last night my grandmother (died !) lied.
 Psycholinguistic Perspective:
Speech errors provide insights into the workings of the
language system.
a (real !) meal mystery (anticipation)
he pulled a (tantrum !) pantrum (perseveration)
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It’s my pleasure to prevent, er...present the next person
on the panel.
(infer that the speaker objects to the person)
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Disfluences
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I ahve to remember to...um..leave a note.
Filler: um, er, uh, etc.
Phoneme, word and phrase repetition.
Syntactic Level Errors
Syntactic level errors are slips involving
whole words.
 Syntactic Category Constraint: Slips
involve words from the same lexical
category.
 (I loveverb to dance !)- I danceverb to loveverb
 Exchange the (sun !) -sky is in the sky
 Anticipation
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verb
noun
noun
Morphemic Level Errors
Morphemic level errors involve an incorrect association between a
stem and an inflection.
Stranding Error: The inflection gets stranded in its original correct
position, whereas the intended stem is moved.
Closed-class items tend to get stranded, whereas open-class items
tend to get moved.
 • (rules of word formation !) words of rule formation.
 • She's already (packed two trunks !) trunked two
 packs.
Language Production:
Conversation
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1.LISA: Hey Eva there's something I wanted to tell you
2.EVA: mhm
3.LISA: My brother is coming to town for a visit next week
4.EVA: How nice
5. LISA: and you know, he broke up with that awful Julie
*last* week
6.EVA: *how* very nice., when's he getting here?
7.LISA: next Monday
8.EVA: Want to go shopping and help me pick out something
really attractive before Monday?
Features of Conversation
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Personnel: Participants in a conversation
Speaker(s) and addressee(s)
Common Ground: Knowledge and beliefs
shared by the personnel
Assumptions about what the other(s) know
(s)/believe(s)
The Production of
Written Language
Three Phases of the Writing Process:
- Planning: Setting goals, formulating and
organizing ideas.
- Translating: Sentence generation.
- Reviewing: Evaluating and revising the text.