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Speech errors and the nature of speech production
I. Introduction
Speech errors as well as other kinds of linguistic breakdown gie eidence about the
nature of speech production! "s suggested b# $iian %ook &the oerall argu'ent for the
biological basis of language is indeed that hu'an 'inds ac(uire and use language with such
ease)*+,,-.+,6/! In spite of language being rather co'ple1 'ost people learn spoken language
without difficulties1 although er# few 'a# hae proble's regarding certain speech sounds1
gra''ar or ocabular#! Speech errors hae drawn 'ore attention to seeral linguists since the
beginning of the twentieth centur# for the reason that the# show so'ething is not working
perfectl# as it should! ro' then until now1 a lot of speech error data has been collected!
eringer studied the' because he belieed the' to proide eidence for the processes of
speech production reud studied the' because he thought the' to reeal ps#chological
'echanis's and organ was concerned about the role of unconscious and repressed desires
and fears in the nature of errors *5utterworth +,80.+2/!
In nor'al speakers1 'isplaced utterances and such are considered to be nor'al in
language production! In fact1 errors like anticipation1 shifts1 echanges1 substitutions and blends
occur in spontaneous1 nor'all# fluent speech at a rate fre(uent enough that casual obseration
will #ield one or 'ore ea'ples of each in a week *Garrett +,80.+-,/! oweer1 that fact does
not suggest the errors to be pathological in an# case! So'eti'es the underla#ing reason is that
the speaker or listener is not aware of the errors because the# 'a# be 'ore difficult to hear or
recall than others!
7aking into account the works of ean "itchison and $ictoria ro'kin1 the process of
speech planning and a possible eidence about the nature of speech production considering
nor'al language users will be approached later on!
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II. Speech errors
a. Normal and pathological speech errors
5oo'er and Laer hae described a slip o the tongue as &an inoluntar# deiation in
perfor'ance fro' the speaker9s current phonological1 gra''atical or leical intention :;<
which show a 'isordering of units in the string1 o'ission of a unit1 or replace'ent of a unit)
*ro'kin +,-3.2+-/! =en though slips of the tongue 'a# occur in the speech of nor'al
language users as well as it represents a s#'pto' of the speech of d#sphasics because it shows
certain si'ilarities1 it does not 'ean the# suffer fro' speech disturbances! 7he truth is that
speech errors are 'ore co''on than it is thought and thus highl# predictable because the# are
usuall# caused b# factors such as the speaker9s lack of attention1 e'barrass'ent1 nerousness
or drunkenness! >hen otle# studied speech errors during the -0s1 he found that &the t#pe of
error aried depending upon the se'antic contet1 and also that se'antic influences
independent of the speaker9s intended utterance pla#ed a part in inducing errors)*S?derpal'
+,-,.+4/! 7his 'ight be the reason wh# people tend to stutter when speaking for ea'ple1
about seual related topics!
In nor'al language speakers there is the possibilit# that so'ething has gone wrong with
the selection process and thus one or 'ore wrong ite's hae been chosen1 howeer there is
also the alternatie that a word has been chosen correctl# but it has not been uttered correctl#1
thus an asse'blage error is 'ade! @n the contrar#1 there is so'e people who had a stroke and
whose speech has been i'paired afterwards1 therefore the# hae to deal with d#sphasia1 in
which the sufferer 'a# find difficult to re'e'ber the na'es of fa'iliar obAects! "nother
potential 'atter to be considered would be children that hae difficult# in ac(uiring language
since1 as suggested b# akobson there is a hierarch# of difficult# in the sounds of speech that
appear in a regular order in the deeloping speech of the child1 although this is unlikel# to
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happen *%ook +,,-.+,6/!
b. Types of speech errors
"ccording to "itchison *+,,8.244/1 three 'ain t#pes *se'antic1 'alapropis's and
blends/ can be distinguished in the categor# of word selection errors! Se'antic errors inole
choosing a wrong word belonging to the sa'e se'antic field as the one desired! Bsuall# pairs
of words are 'isused *i!e!. turn left, I am sorry, I mean right / such as yesterday/tomorrow1
early/late1 up/down! alapropis's consist of confusing one word with another that sounds
si'ilar i!e!. alligator/allegory1 compensation/consolation! In so'e cases both words are
connected b# the sa'e idea. incinerator/incubator related to heat1 runway/railway related to
tracks! 5lends are 'ore rare than the preious1 it consists of blending two words together
creating a new utterance i!e!. eplain plus epand would result in expland (please expland
that)!
oreoer1 "itchison *+,,8.24-/ eplains the different asse'blage errors and its three
'ain t#pes which affect words1 s#llables or sounds! 5# the 'eans of a transposition1 the words
are switched in places i!e! I can't help the cat if it's deluded instead of I can't help it if the cat's
deluded ! Spooneris's1 na'ed after the Ceerend >illia' "! Spooner and belieed to be the
originator of this particular lapse1 is a kind of asse'blage error in which indiidual phonetic
seg'ents are transposed *ro'kin 2+,/! e tended to change the initial sounds of words as in
the cat popped on its drawers instead of the cat dropped on his paws! "nticipations are the
'ost widespread t#pe1 the# inole the speaker bringing an ite' to earl# in the speech i!e!. I
want you to tell Millicent... I mean, I want you to tell Mary what Millicent said ! 5# repetitions
it is understood that words or sounds are repeated as in the book by homsky and halle
'eaning alle! Surprisingl#1 these are er# rare and &perhaps the greatest single difference
between ordinar# people and d#sphasics1 who often1 to their frustration and despair1 repeatedl#
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repeat sounds and words fro' the sentence before) *"itchison +,,8. 24,/!
III. Nature of speech production
a. Planning one's speech
Speech is essential in order to stablish oral co''unication with another person! 7he
speaker has to deal with input1 output1 planning and producing speech! 7here are two stages
that hae been described b# "itchison *+,,-.2D4/. outline planning which begins while the
preious sentence is being uttered and inoles the choice of ke#words1 s#nta and intonation
pattern and secondl# detailed planning1 which takes place while the clause is in progress and
inoles 'aking the words and s#nta 'eaningful! Si'ultaneousl#1 the speaker produces
pauses that sere to 'ake ti'e for cognitie processes *i!e!. think about the net sentence/ and
also assist the listener in order to understand the 'essage *i!e! pause at the end of a sentence/1
howeer there 'ight be occasions in which the speaker produces hesitations1 which indicate
eidence of the process of encoding and decoding speech or een 'ake speech errors! "s
stated in 5utterworth9s work1 5oo'er 'aintains speech production to be.
a co'ple process in which planning ranges forward to enco'pass a structural chunk of s#nta and
'eaning! "s gien clause is being uttered1 the net one is taking shape and focus! "t the ter'inal
Auncture1 the net clause 'a# be read#1 in which case it will be uttered fluentl#!!!If1 howeer1 the e'erging
clause has not #et been subAectiel# for'ulated1 speech is suspended until the entire pattern is clarified!
7his suspension 'a# be 'anifested as either a pause or a ocaliEed hesitation *+,80.+68/!
"s well as so'eti'es the speaker 'a# not produce an utterance correctl# because a
word selection error has been 'ade1 there is a chance that the listener 'a# not hear an utterance
as it is supposed to be! "fter artin had carried out an eperi'ent that inoled spontaneous
speech between a listener and a speaker1 he &h#pothesiEed that the speech signal often did not
correspond well to what the speaker intended1 but that this fact allowed for in the wa# the
listener perceptuall# processed the signal) *+,-+.48/!
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b. Possible evidence of nature of speech
"ccording to Garrett1 the obseration of errors &proide eidence for the eistence of a
processing t#pe i!e!. of a co'putational s#ste' of gien ocabular# and processing
'echanis') *+,80.+83/! istakes are usuall# 'ade in the sa'e contet1 'eaning that there are
regularities in the' and thus be a hint for the nature of speech! "t the sa'e ti'e1 error patterns
suggest there is a planning process!
"itchison h#pothesiEes that speakers possibl# start b# picking a erb or noun an start
building a sentence around it slotting other words in the re'aining gaps! 7herefore &when
people plan utterances the# 'entall# set up s#ntactic trees which are built around selected
ke#words) *+,,-.2DD/! Since words are thought before uttered1 there is a high chance that these
words cross clause boundaries and slips of the tongue are generated!
7aking into account the tip of the tongue *7@7/ eperi'ent carried out b# 5rown and
cNeill1 in which a definition is gien and the participants 'ust recogniEe the right word1 the#
found that een though so'e of the students that could not co'e up with the word straight
awa#1 the# were able to proide (uite a lot of se'antic or phonetic infor'ation about the na'e1
which suggests that &si'ilar 'eaning words are linked together in the 'ind! >e probabl#
actiate a nu'ber of the' before pinpointing one in particular! >hen errors occur we hae
been insufficientl# precise in locating the eact word needed) *"itchison +,,-.2D+/
Since 'an# features pla# a roll in the speech errors that occur1 it has been insinuated
that ocabular# ite's 'ust be stored with phonological or phonetic specifications1 se'antic1
s#ntactic and wordFclass features! ro'kin proposes the idea that &one 'a# then suggest that
the ocabular# is stored in a thesaurusFlike lattice structure! It is possible to conceie of this
network as a listing of all the ste's and affies in so'e fied phonological order1 each one with
all of its feature specifications1 and each one with a particular address)*+,-3.23-/!
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IV. Conclusion
7he 'aking of errors proide infor'ation about the speech perfor'ance and suggests that
speakers prepare the chunk siEe and the utterances in adance1 'eaning that there is a process
b# which words are selected and s#nta is asse'bled! "s eplained before1 the unit of planning
states that words are thought while the preceding clause is thought1 but in so'e cases the
detailed organiEation is left behind and utterances such as a cop of cuffee instead of a cup of
coffee are produced!
"s ro'kin suggests1 there are D stages until the phonetic and phonological rules take oer
and the utterance is articulated! It is during the fourth stage when errors are 'ost likel# to occur
because a wrong word has been chosen. &such errors 'a# inole the 'atching of alues of
se'antic features1 resulting in a wrong address being specified *hate instead of like/! @r the
correct address 'a# be specified1 but a different address substituted which is in the 9icinit#9 of
the intended address * pressure instead of present /)*+,,-.23,/!
In the h#pothetical case that errors had not drawn attention to linguists1 little progress would
hae been done! ortunatel#1 through the stud# of speech errors it 'a# be confir'ed there is an
eidence of the nature of speech. &If we had no record of errors in which consonant clusters are
split into seg'ents1 we would not be able to Austif# the assu'ption that clusters in perfor'ance
are strings of indiidual discrete seg'ents) *ro'kin +,-3.238/! oweer1 there is still a lot to
be inestigated in this field1 as stated b# "itchison &the (uestion of how all this is fitted
together still needs further clarification)*+,,-.2D,/!
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