Speech Errors and the Nature of Speech Production

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LING2002 24486388

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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LING2002 24486388

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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Speech Errors and the Nature of Speech Production

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