Review: Speech Errors Mondegreen: Misparsing the string of sounds. These are slips of the ear –...

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

– *taunt+mock > tmock

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 kurd winding

– frothy gap cough warden

– forest grain coax wielded

– goxy furl worst cottage

Freudian Slips

Test items

– folly gore kurd winding

– frothy gap cough warden

– forest grain coax wielded

– goxy furl worst cottage

Other targets

– bine foddy

– shad bock

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: BobN, ball

N, put

V,

groundN

– Roles attached: Bobtheme, agent,

ballundergoer

– 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.

XXXXXX

JBDVLM

XXXXXX

----L-

----B-

XXXXXX

SOKDHR

XXXXXX

--R---

--K---

XXXXXX

FATHER

XXXXXX

---H--

---T--

XXXXXX

CGZIFW

XXXXXX

----G-

----F-

XXXXXX

POSTER

XXXXXX

--S---

--R---

XXXXXX

RCHUQV

XXXXXX

--U---

--H---

XXXXXX

STRIPE

XXXXXX

----P-

----K-

XXXXXX

CRATES

XXXXXX

-----R

-----S

end

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?