Review: Speech Errors

Mondegreen: Misparsing the string of sounds.
These are slips of the ear
– Olive, the other reindeer ~ all of the other reindeer
– of the icing (of thee I sing)
– round young virgin (ronyon virgin)
– kill germs with a jellyroll (kill germs where they grow)
– play jelly dance to the flag (pledge allegiance to the flag)

Other Speech Errors

Malapropism: Getting two similarly pronounced words confused
– Antidotes ~ anecdotes, chronological liar
– You keep newborn chicks in an incinerator.
– She’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.
– Compensation prize (consolation)

Freudian slips are malapropisms that show real thoughts (supposedly)
– Please pass the nose (salt) to person with big nose

Other Speech Errors

Spoonerisms (switching sounds between words)
– You have hissed my mystery lectures.
– You have tasted the whole worm.
– We’ll have the hags flung out
– Our Lord is a shoving leopard
– “Son, it is now kisstomary to cuss the bride.”

Other Speech Errors

Exchanges (malapropisms involve this)
– You have hissed all my mystery lecturesYou have missed all my history lectures

Anticipations (a sound used to early)
– It's a meal mystery (It's a real mystery)
 c. Perseverations (keeping a sound from one word and transferring it to another)
– give the goy (give the boy)

Other Speech Errors

Substitutions (putting in wrong sound. Source of sound unknown)
– his retters (his letters)

Addition (adding a sound)
– moptimal number
 f. Blends (combining two words)
– didn’t bother me in the sleast. (least/slightest)
– I didn't explain it clearfully enough.

Other Speech Errors

Deletion (something is omitted)
– mutter intelligibly (mutter unintelligibly)

Substitutions (malapropisms involve this)
– I’m stuttering psycholinguistics

Other Speech Errors

Semantic errors (wrong meaning word chosen)
– artichokes for aubergines, left for right

Shifts (morphemes interchanged)
– She decide_ to hits it.

Other Speech Errors

You will need to decide what kind of error it is that you observe.

How hard it is to hear them?
– People listened to transcripts for errors
• Half of errors missed
• Half of errors that were heard were misheard
• So, only 25% right

How right are we about reason for error?
– What word they meant to say
• was coon a blend from boon and coup?

Other Speech Errors

What caused these errors?
– bulldoze > balldoze
– back door > bash door
– big ditch > dig ditch
– big deal > bill deal
– black dog > bark dog
– wheelbarrow > wheelbarrel
– nuclear > nuclyalar

Other Speech Errors

Some errors become standard
– angnail > hang nail (ang=pain)
– a napron > an apron
– berfrey > belfrey
– ekename > nickname (eke=other)
– brideguma > bridegroom (guma=man)


Generalizations about
Speech Errors
Exchanges happen between word ends, beginnings, middles (not a middle with an end).
– burst of beaded (beast of burden)
– pat a dog > dat a pog
– *apple tree > tapple aree

Similar elements exchange
– vowel with vowels, consonants with consonants
• poojin pitter downer (pidgeon putter downer)

Errors produce phonotactically licit words
– taunt+mock > tock

Generalizations about
Speech Errors

Words exchanged tend to have same part of speech or apply to same parts of speech
– rubber hose and lead pipe > rubber pipe and lead hose
– A bird in the alder tree > the bird in the alder tree
– *tree bird in the alder a
– deciding to hit it > decide to hitting it
– *the boys are going > the boying are goes

Generalizations about
Speech Errors

Errors resulting in real words more common that errors that results in nonwords
– wrong loot < long root
– *rawn loof < lawn roof

What Speech Errors
Tell Us

Weekend for maniac[s] > maniac for weekend[z]
– Phonetic process of assimilation happens after words are chosen
– If not we'd get “weekend for maniac[z]”

What Speech Errors
Tell Us
 ecónomists > económists
– stress may be stored separately
– or this error is caused by stress on económical

What Speech Errors
Tell Us
 pat a dog > bat a tog
– not exchange of sound but of feature
– features may be separate/real entities

Eliciting Speech Errors

SLIP technique

–Word-pairs are presented and read silently unless there is a signal which indicates that the word-pair should be read out loud.


–E.g. target = red bowl,
–The target will be preceded by several word pairs which have the initial phonemes in the reverse order, in this case /b/ then /r/ e.g. best rose, bets rode red bowl

–This may lead to the “expected” error = bed roll

Freudian Slips

Will you please step into my office > into my bed

They assume semantics of situation caused interference

Freudian Slips

Experiment
– Read words silently unless prompted, then say them aloud
– mangy bears
– mashed buns
– angry insect
– ornery fly
– bad mug

Freudian Slips

Bad mug > mad bug
– primed phonologically
– primed semantically

Freudian Slips

Experiment
– Read words silently unless prompted, then say them aloud
– 3 conditions
• Electricity: You are expecting to be shocked (but never are)
• Sexual: The experimenter is provocatively dressed (participants are all male)
• Neutral: Nothing in particular

Freudian Slips

Test items
– folly gore
– frothy gap
– forest grain
– goxy furl kurd winding cough warden coax wielded worst cottage

Freudian Slips

Test items
– folly gore
– frothy gap
– forest grain
– goxy furl

Other targets
– bine foddy
– shad bock kurd winding cough warden coax wielded worst cottage

Freudian Slips

Test Results
– When they thought they would be shocked they converted worst cottage > cursed wattage in 69/90
– In neutral condition they converted worst cottage > cursed wattage in 44/90

Freudian Slips

Test Results
– When experimenter was provocatively dressed they converted goxy firl > foxy girl in 76/90
– In neutral condition they converted goxy firl > foxy girl in 41/90

Freudian Slips

So, semantic context can influence slips of the tongue

Review: Language
Processing

Message level-deciding what to say in concepts

Functional level-finding words to say it

Positional level-getting the words into sentences

Phonological encoding level-getting the sounds to say the words

Speech gesture level-getting words into physical speech

Language Processing

Serial model
– get concepts of what you want to say
– find words for them
– put words into sentences
– put phonological information onto words
– convert phonological information into speech sounds

It all happens one step at a time

Language Processing

Cascade model
– The order is the same, but processing isn't done one step at a time
– Things move from one level to the next at different paces
– Processing is done on several levels at once

Language Processing

I bought my dad a dog (mean cat)
– At what level did processing go wrong?

Language Processing

I bought my dad a dog (mean cat)
– At what level did processing go wrong?
– Functional-Finding word for concept

Language Processing

I bought my dad a dog (mean cat)
– At what level did processing go wrong?
– Functional-Finding word for concept

I bought my dog a dad (meant dog for dad)
– At what level did processing go wrong?
– Correct words were chosen
– But not put in right place-Positional level

Language Processing

I bought my dag a dog (dad a dog)
– At what level did processing go wrong?

Language Processing

I bought my dag a dog (dad a dog)
– At what level did processing go wrong?
– Speech gesture level-putting words into sounds

Functional Level

You get words for concepts

Lemmas have information about words
– part of speech (N, V, prep)
– information about semantic roles (agent, recipient, undergoer)
– syntactic frame information
• put NP + preposition + NP indicating location
• put the ball on the ground
• *put the ball
• *put on the ground

Functional Level
– go ((to) NP indicating place)
– go VERB(ing)
• go to the store
• go home
• go fishing
• *go campus
*go Sarah

Language Processing

Message level
– Concept of Bob putting ball on ground during a soccer match you saw.

Functional level
– lemmas for Bob, ball, put, ground chosen
– parts of speech attached: Bob
N
, ball
N
, put
V
, ground
N
– Roles attached: Bob theme, agent, ball undergoer
– Semantic information attached: put NP + preposition + NP indicating location

Language Processing

Positional Level

– Slots set up
– [ ] theme
[ ] verb in past tense
[ ] prep
[ ] det
[ ] location
Ball put the Bob on the ground
– Where is error happening?

Formulas, Cliches, and
Chunks

Not all sentences are built from scratch

We probably have formulas stored like words
– [a lot of]
– [to the]
– [got a bunch of]
– [have to]
– [kind of]

Formulas, Cliches, and
Chunks

Not all sentences are built from scratch

We probably have formulas stored like words
– [a lot of] lotta
– [to the] ta the
– [got a bunch of] buncha
– [have to] hafta (compare “have two”)
– [kind of] kinda

Phonetic reduction may signal formula or chunk

Errors of morphology

A language needer learns < a language learner needs

This shows that morphemes are possibly stored separately or at least identified

Errors of phonology

What level of processing do sound errors occur?
– a stuck in the mid < a stick in the mud
Phonological encoding level-getting the sounds to say the words
Speech gesture level-getting words into physical speech

Phonotactics

Which are possible English words?
1.tleaf
2.glot
3.spim
4.tmin
5.broog
6.rtick

Phonotactics

In Japanese only these syllables are possible
– V
– CV
– CV nasal

Borrowed words are made to fit these syllables
– fight -> [faito]
– festival > [fesutʃibaru]
– McDonalds → macudonarudo

Notice that one epenthetic vowel is /u/

Phonotactics

Words played to French and Japanese speakers
– They varied in vowel length from no vowel
• egma (where Japanese would add /u/)
– to full vowel
• eguma

Phonotactics

Words played to French and Japanese speakers
– They varied in vowel length from no vowel
• egma (where Japanese would add /u/)
– to full vowel
• eguma

Task: decide if there is a vowel in the middle

Phonotactics

Percent of judgments with vowel

Phonotactics

Percent of judgments with vowel

Phonotactics

Percent of judgments with vowel

Japanese “heard” vowel to make it fit their language pattern

Both eguma and egma are phonotactically plausible in French. They could hear both.

DEMONSTRATION
WORD SUPERIORITY EFFECT
BASED ON REICHER (1969)
On the next several slides, I will flash a row of six letters. You will then see two letters, one above and one below a letter that appeared. Guess which of the two letters actually appeared in the appropriate location.

Word Superiority
Effect

What letters are easier to remember?

Why?

Word Superiority
Effect

What letters are easier to remember?

Why?
– You aren't asked about words just series of letters.
– Words give cues to position that other sequences of letters don't.
• frequency
• pronounceability
• meaning
• they are in memory already

Word Superiority
Effect

Why are eye charts like this?

Word Superiority
Effect

And not like this?