Menn 3
Why are speech errors interesting?
Why are speech errors interesting?
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They give insight into mental processing
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More insight than looking at the brain
What are slips of the tongue?
What are slips of the tongue?
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Are the errors of aphasics slips of the tongue?
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Who makes them then?
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How often?
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Is not completing a sentence a slip of the tongue
What are slips of the tongue?
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If you recorded everything you said in a day how
many would you find?
What are slips of the tongue?
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If you recorded everything you said in a day how
many would you find?
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Famous people get recorded a lot
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They make lots of errors
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Is this representative of regular Joes?
Barak Obama
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I've travelled to almost all of the 57 states.
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Why did he say this?
“Let’s not play games,” Obama stated. “What I was
suggesting – you’re absolutely right that John
McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And
you’re absolutely right that that has not come.”
Stephanopoulos immediately interrupted Obama,
stating, “Christian faith.”
“My Christian faith,” Obama quickly said. “Well,
what I’m saying is that he (McCain) hasn’t
suggested that I’m a Muslim.
Mitt Romney
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Mitt Romney made an unfortunate slip of the
tongue during a fundraiser Tuesday, when he
mistakenly said "sheik" instead of "Sikh" while
commenting on the tragic shooting in Wisconsin.
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Why did he do this?
What is a tip of the tongue state?
What is a tip of the tongue state?
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Characteristics of word available but not word
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letters in word
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sounds in word
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words with similar meaning
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context the word is used in
What is a mondegreen
What is a mondegreen
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Misparsing the string of sounds
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Lady Mondegreen ~ laid 'im on the green
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Surely Good Mrs. Murphy shall follow me all the days
of my life ~ Surely goodness and mercy shall . . .
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Olive, the other reindeer ~ all of the other reindeer
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Burning all the strings of Hell along ~ Burning out his
fuse up here alone
What is a mondegreen
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Misparsing the string of sounds
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you've got mud on your face, front disc brakes ~ a big
disgrace
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police have a dog ~ feliz navidad
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the girl with colitis goes by ~ kaleidoscope eyes
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and there's a wino down the road. I should have stolen
Oreos. ~ and as we wind on down the road, our
shadow's taller than our souls
What is a malapropism?
What is a malapropism?
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Getting two similarly pronounced words confused
The speaker usually doesn't recognize the error as
an error
What is a malapropism?
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Getting two similarly pronounced words confused
The speaker usually doesn't recognize the error as
an error
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For all intensive purposes < for all intents and purposes
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the windshield effect < the wind chill effect
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antidotes < anecdotes
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The United States has a huge aerosol of nuclear
weapons that act as a detergent against attack from our
enemies.
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The angry wife took back her cheating husband - on
one contrition - that he cut off all contracts with other
Common malapropisms
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chronological liar
Common malapropisms
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chronological liar
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mute point
Common malapropisms
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chronological liar
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mute point
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irregardless
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extra century perception
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a wolf in cheap clothing
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a pigment of his imagination
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he was held hostile
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a woman of great statue
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the bondage between mother and child
Common malapropisms
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chronological liar
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mute point
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irregardless
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supposably
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Where do they come from?
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What did Freud think about them?
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Woman in Spain to missionaries: Soy catolica,
apostolica, protestante
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I'm an apostolic, Roman protestant
What speakers are not normal?
What speakers are not normal?
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Kids still learning language
What speakers are not normal?
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Kids still learning language
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Adults still learning second language
What speakers are not normal?
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Kids still learning language
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Adults still learning second language
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People with language problems-impediments,
dyslexia, aphasia, apraxia
People with bad hearing
Process of speaking
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Message level-deciding what to say
Process of speaking
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Message level-deciding what to say
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Functional level-finding words to say it
Process of speaking
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Message level-deciding what to say
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Functional level-finding words to say it
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Positional level-getting the words together in
sentences
Process of speaking
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Message level-deciding what to say
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Functional level-finding words to say it
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Positional level-getting the words into sentences
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Phonological encoding level-getting the sounds to
say the words
Process of speaking
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Message level-deciding what to say
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Functional level-finding words to say it
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Positional level-getting the words into sentences
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Phonological encoding level-getting the sounds to
say the words
Speech gesture level-getting words into physical
speech
Message level
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Concept of message without words
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What the story line is
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Who did what to who/what
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Pragmatic information used
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Information about semantic roles of concepts and
lemmas passed on to functional level
Message level
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Pragmatics
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How speech is related to context
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Who are you talking to?
How much time do you have to say it?
What is the current conversation about?
What was just said by the other person?
What did you just say?
How do you want the person to react?
What are your beliefs and those of the other person?
Message level
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Pragmatics
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Meaning doesn't exist outside of a context
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What does “You have a green light” mean?
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It could mean that you have green ambient lighting.
It could mean that you have a green light while driving
your car.
It could mean that you can go ahead with the project.
It could mean that your body has a green glow.
It could mean that you possess a light bulb that is tinted
green
Message level
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Pragmatics
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Sentences with same meaning but different context
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Excuse me sir, do you have a pen?
Excuse me sir, have you a pen?
Could I borrow a pen?
Could you lend me your pen?
Can I use your pen?
Give me your pen.
Gotta pen?
Yo, dude, gotta pen?
Pen?
Pen!
Message level
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Pragmatics
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Who would have problems with the pragmatic aspects
of speech?
Message level
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Pragmatics
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Who would have problems with the pragmatic aspects
of speech?
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People from different culture
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Different language may be problem
Different culture (UK vs. Australia)
Message level
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Pragmatics
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Who would have problems with the pragmatic aspects
of speech?
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People from different culture
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Different language may be problem
Different culture (UK vs. Australia)
People with poor social skills
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Aspergers, austism, aphasia
Temple Grandin-Autism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qPFAT4p8Lc
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Speech and the brain
Process of speaking
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Message level-deciding what to say
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Functional level-finding words to say it
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Positional level-getting the words into sentences
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Phonological encoding level-getting the sounds to
say the words
Speech gesture level-getting words into physical
speech
Functional level
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Concept vs. meaning
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Picture yourself flying without a plane through the
clouds and looking down on what you see on the
ground
Can you do it without words? You are using
concepts
When you add words then meaning is important
Functional level
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Lemma
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Meaning of word
You can have meaning in your head but not
phonetic form (tip of tongue) so meaning is
separate from phonetic form
Functional level
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Lemma
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Lemmas have many phonetic forms
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walks, walking, walked, walk
Lemma for CAR could include
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car, cars, red one, it, that one
Functional level
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Lemma
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Lemmas have many phonetic forms
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Lemma for CAR could include
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walks, walking, walked, walk
car, cars, red one, it, that one
Lemmas include information about part of speech,
frequency, things it co-occurs with, emotions
attached to it, motor plan for pronouncing it,
memories associated with it, opposites
Functional level
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Activation
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concept > lemma > things linked to lemma >
phonetic/motor make up of lemma
Functional level
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Categorization is central human cognitive ability
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many speech errors involve substitution between
things in same category
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names of siblings
opposites
animals (farm, wild, domestic, dangerous, cute)
(Silvia) So are you going to hang out with your wife
this weekend?
(Dave) Are you crazy. She's the last person I want to
be with.
(Silvia) Mike, will you just stop!
Functional level
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Going from concepts in message level to lemmas in
functional level involves activations of lemmas.
Activation of lemmas also activates closely
associated lemmas
This causes substitution errors
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Blends show retrieval of two words at same time
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regardless + irrespective = irregardless
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person + people = perple
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coup + boon = coon
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She’s (Condoleezza Rice) got the patent resumé of somebody that has serious
skill. She loves football, she’s African-American, which would be kind of a big
coon. A big boon. Oh my God – I totally, totally, totally, totally am sorry for
that. I didn’t mean that.
Semantic function
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Function is not part of speech
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Noun, adjective, determiner, verb, conjunction
Function is not grammatical function
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Johnsubject painted the houseobject
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The housesubject was painted by Johnobject of prep.
Function is what semantic role the words plays in
sentence
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Johnagent painted the houseundergoer
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The houseundergoer was painted by Johnagent
Semantic function
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At message level you envision John painting the
house
At functional level you choose lemmas for John,
paint, and house
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You also assign part of speech to lemmas,
and semantic roles to lemmas
Things associated with lemmas are activated
Still no sentences or phonetics assigned to
words
Where is language?
Mainly left hemisphere
How do we know it's in the left?
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Autopsies of aphasics
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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
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Using magnetic pulses to temporarily disrupt brain
function
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Video
How do we know it's in the left?
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Wada test
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Temporarily disable one hemisphere with injection
How do we know it's in the left?
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Dichotic listening
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present different words to each ear at same time
How do we know it's in the left?
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Either A or B shown to left eye (right hemisphere)
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A-The boy kisses the girl
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B-The girl kisses the boy
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A-The girl is drinking
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B-The girl will drink
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A-The dog jumps over the fence
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B-The dogs jump over the fence
How do we know it's in the left?
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Either A or B shown to left eye (right hemisphere)
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A-The boy kisses the girl
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B-The girl kisses the boy
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A-The girl is drinking
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B-The girl will drink
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A-The dog jumps over the fence
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B-The dogs jump over the fence
Subjects had to choose picture of the sentence they saw. They couldn’t
distinguish A from B
How do we know it's in the left?
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Either A or B shown to left eye (right hemisphere)
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A-The boy kisses the girl
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B-The girl kisses the boy
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A-The girl is drinking
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B-The girl will drink
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A-The dog jumps over the fence
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B-The dogs jump over the fence
Subjects had to choose picture of the sentence they saw. They couldn’t
distinguish A from B
What does this mean?
How do we know it's in the left?
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Measure brain activation with MRI
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This is your brain listening to words
How do we know it's in the left?
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Measure brain activation with MRI
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This is your brain producing verbs
How do we know it's in the left?
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Split brain patients
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Done to treat severe epilepsy
Is it in the left for everyone?
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It depends on which hand is dominant
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% of people with left or right hemisphere language
Lang. in left
Lang. in right
Right handed
95
5
Left handed
70
30
Is it all in the left?
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LEFT: Understanding meaning, speaking
RIGHT: tone of voice, prosody, inflection,
emotion, humor, metaphor