Language Production
Com 370
Baldwin
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Type of Discourse (Discourse Plans)
Sentence Plans
Constituent Plans
Articulatory Program
Articulation
Planning What You Will Say…
 Overarching
influences
◦ Goals (immediate and deeper [1st, 2ndorder]
◦ Context (social, relationship)
◦ Interactants (status, level of
acquaintance, knowledge)
◦ Linguistic resources available (e.g.,
word for a color, a new experience)
(funny note: sniglets)
Influences on Production
 Discourse
Plans
◦ Type of discourse
 Ex:
 Ex:
◦ Adjacency pairs (and various types)
 Ex of type of adjacency pair
 1st part and expected 2nd part (p. 229)
 Presequence
 Insertion sequence
◦ Hidden rules (rules of different types
of discourse)
Discourse Plans
“Discourse type” example: Casual
conversation
 Assumptions (p. 228)
 Rules for Conversations
◦ 1:
◦ 2:
◦ 3:
 Closing
conversations?
 Opening conversations?
 Level of formality (context, roles)
Discourse Plans
“Discourse type” example: Telling a
Story
 Description
◦ Level
◦ Content
◦ Order
◦ Relations
“problems”
Can
you think of times people don’t
follow these rules?
Discourse Plans
 Propositional
Content
◦ Rules for organizing: Chunking
 Conceptual Salience (joints and
intervals)
 Verbalizability
 Pertinence
◦ Simplicity criterion
 Ex: Different types of description
“rules” (p. 240)
Sentence Plans: Propositional
Illocutionary Content
 Cooperative
Principle
 Grice’s Maxims
◦ Relation
◦ Quality
◦ Quantity
◦ Manner
 Implicature
 Examples:
Sentence Plans: Illocutionary
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Illocutionary Content
◦ Types of linguistic “force”
 Locutionary (content)
 Illocutionary (intent)
 Perloctutionary (force or effect)
◦ Types of speech acts (p. 242)
 Representative
 Directive
 Commissive
 Expressive
 Declarative
◦ Felicity Conditions
Sentence Plans: Illocutionary
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Thematic Structure
◦
◦
◦
◦
Frame and Insert
Given and New Information
Subject and Predicate (e.g., active/passive)
Example:
 P1:
 P2:
 P3:
Dr. Baldwin has a son
His son’s name is Chris
Chris is a National Merit Finalist
 P1:
 P2:
 P3:
 P4:
Baldwin has a daughter
His daughter’s name is Katie
Baldwin gave Katie cello
Cello (known) is full-size
Sentence Plans: Thematic
Thematic Structure
 Can relate to *any* of the constituents…
Our texts just treats noun phrases:
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Basic Level Nouns
Articles (definite, indefinite)
Modifiers
Pronouns
Direct address
The Power and Solidarity semantics
 P&S in other countries (“differentiated
speech codes”)
 U.S.: P&S in direct address
 Does it apply in any other aspect?
 How do you decide?
Constituent Plans
Thematic Structure
 Example:
 You are visiting a
friend who has a
painting…
 Art museum
 Stranger
 Stranger is Mr. Dali
Constituent Plans
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Katie: Hey, Daddy—are you busy?
Dad: What do you need?
Katie: I wanted to show you something.
Dad: Oh! Katie! That’s just beautiful!
Katie: Yeah—my [
Dad:
[um…what is it?
Katie: It’s paper maché--from my art class.
My teacher really liked it.
Dad: Tell me more about it.
Katie: It’s a Chinese dragon.
Dad: That is SO PRETTY, I think we need to
put it on the piano.
An extended example
Turn-taking rules
 Turn-relevant junctures
 Adjacency pairs
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◦ Pre-sequences
◦ Insertion sequences
◦ 1st and 2nd (preferred) parts
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Sentences
◦ Propositions
◦ Framing (and insert); subject/predicate
◦ Illocutionary force (direct/indirect)
Constituents
 Articulation
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What do articulation errors tell us about
the thought processes involved in creating
articulation?
The Articulation Process
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Errors & Examples
Name of Error
Example
Silent pause
Turn on the // heater switch
Filled pause
Turn on, uh, the heater switch
Repeats
Turn on the heater / the heater
switch
False starts (untraced)
Turn on the stove /heater switch
False starts (retraced)
Turn on the stove / the heater
switch
Corrections
Turn on the stove—I mean, the
heater switch
Interjections
Turn on , oh, the heater switch
Stutters
Turn on the h-h-h-heater switch
Slips of the tongue
Turn on the sweeter hitch.
Articulation
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Constituent seems to be the primary unit
◦ Are they planned semantically or syntactically?
◦ Some rules:
 Speakers try to plan each constituent fluently
 They try to plan each constituent as a unit
 When they do have to stop, the offer explanation
before correcting themselves and going on
 It is the selection of words that makes them stop
when they do
Planning and Execution
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Ideal Delivery
◦ Most common disruption: filled or silent pause
◦ Most people pause 40-50 percent of the time
◦ Fast speakers usually simply use less pauses
(this is where speed comes from)
◦ Table 7:2—what does it tell us? (compare two
sides)
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Why is ideal speech important?
Articulation / Delivery
Juncture pauses (grammatical
junctures)
 Constituent boundaries
 Before first content word of
constituent (argues for primacy of
content words).

Pauses
Stephanie
 Stephanie
 Stephanie
 Stephanie

would
would
would
would
Interjections
like, oh, carrots.
like—ah, carrots.
like, well, carrots.
like, say, carrots
He hit Mary— that is, Bill did—with a
frying pan.
 I’m trying to lease— or rather,
sublease—my apartment.
 I really love— I mean, despise—getting
up in the morning.
 I’ll be done immediately— well, in a few
minutes.
Why do people have difficulty
planning?
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Correction Phrases
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Consider and give examples of either
interjections or corrections (indicate how
different interjection or correction serves a
different purpose in the articulation program)
Discuss how whichever you are assigned
either supports or does not support the 5step articulation program that Clark & Clark
suppose
What are the implications for how we
produce language?
Discussion Exercise
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Meaning selection: What meaning should the
present constituent have?
Selection of syntactic outline: “Specifies a
succession of word slots and indicates which slots
are to get primary, secondary, and zero stress.
Content word selection: Select nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs to fill appropriate slots
Affix and function word formation: Spell out
“phonological shape” of function words (e.g.,
articles, conjunctions, prepositions), prefixes,
suffixes
Specification of Phonetic segments: Build up
fully specified phonetic segments available by
syllable.
Steps in the Articulation Program
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Word reversals:
◦ A weekend for MANIACS  a maniac for
WEEKENDS
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Phonetic segments & features
◦ With this ring I thee wed with this wing I
thee red.
◦ Terry and Julia Derry and Chulia
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Syllables
◦ Harpsichord carpsihord
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Consonant clusters
◦ Grizzly + ghastly  gr/astly
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Morpheme Confusion
◦ Rosa dated shrinksRosa date shranks
Articulation woes
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Spoonerisms:
◦ “You have hissed all my mystery lectures”
◦ “The Lord is a shoving leopard to his flock”
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Malapropisms
◦ “I’m simply ravishing”
◦ “We should be reminisce in our duty if we did
not investigate.”
◦ My own: “It’s worn for wear” (instead of “worse
for wear”)
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Tip-of-the-tongue experiences
◦ Sextant: “secant,” “sextet,” “sexton”
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Articulation shortcuts
◦ I wanna gecha oniz catamaran.
Articulation Woes
Spoonerisms:
http://www.matthewgoldman.com/spoon/
rindercella_2.html
 Ladle Rat Rotten Hut:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/la
dle/index.html
 The Anguish Languish webpage:
http://www.justanyone.com/allanguish.ht
ml

Cinderella—Told Sideways