English Words

11.3
THE ARTICULATORY PROGRAMME
Let us now consider the other side of the coin: SPEECH PRODUCTION. Using evidence from speech
errors, Fromkin (1971, 1973, 1980) has proposed a model of how speakers go about the task of finding and
using words when they produce speech. The production of speech involves five stages which take place in
the order in which they are listed in [11.18] (cf. Clark and Clark 1977):
[11.18]
a. Meaning selection
The first task is to decide what meaning the constituent
being constructed will have.
b. Selection of the syntactic outline
The second task is to decide in broad terms what the structure of the syntactic constituents will be (e.g. NP, PP).
At this stage the speaker also determines where stress will fall.
c. Content word selection
The speaker selects the words that will fill the slots for content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) in
the syntactic frame (e.g. having got the syntactic frame Det N, the speaker may decide on the words a book, the
girl
etc.)
d. Affix and function word selection
The speaker selects function words (e.g. prepositions, pronouns and conjunctions) and inflectional affixes (e.g.
plural -s, past tense -ed).
e. Specification of phonetic segments
Syllable by syllable, phoneme by phoneme and distinctive feature by distinctive feature (e.g. voiced, high, nasal
etc.), the speaker goes through the words fully specifying how they are to be pronounced.
Monitoring goes on concurrently as the speaker implements any of the five stages. A change of mind or
the detection of an error may result in production being aborted. Errors can and do creep in at any one of
these stages.
11.3.1
Speech errors as evidence in favour of the articulatory programme
There is a considerable variety in the range of errors found in speech. The various types of error give us a
window on the production process. Some errors result from the simultaneous selection of two words. These
errors are called BLENDS (cf. section (
9.10
)).
[11.19]
a.
didn’t bother me in the sleast.
THE MENTAL LEXICON 169

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(from slightest+least) (Boomer and Laver 1968).
b.
Don’t frowl (frown+scowl) like that! (Aitchison 1987)
c.
dreeze (draft+breeze)
(Fromkin 1973)
The confusion resulting in blends stems from the fact that words are retrieved from the mental lexicon on
the basis of their phonological and semantic properties. Usually blends involve two words that are
phonologically and semantically similar.
However, as Fromkin (1971) points out, many errors have no basis in phonology. They involve words
that only share semantic properties. For instance, the relationship may be one of antonymy (oppositeness),
as in [11.20a]:
[11.20]
Utterance:
This room is too damn hot—cold.
Target:
This room is too damn cold.
or it may involve so me other semantic property:
[11.21]
a.
Utterance:
I’d better give you a calendar.
Target:
I’d better give you a map.
b.
Utterance:
He has to pay her rent, I mean alimony.
Target:
He has to pay her alimony.
c.
Utterance:
They’re doing some experiments with the four blind—deaf children.
Target:
They’re doing some experiments with the four deaf children.
Fromkin (1971) has argued that in this type of error the speaker gets the semantic wires crossed, as it
were. This results in the selection of the wrong word, which has a meaning that is related to the intended
meaning but which is different in pronunciation. Consider the further examples of semantic substitution
from Fromkin (1971). In [11.22a] the oppositeness in meaning of hate and love is the important property
and in [11.22b] oral and written belong to the same semantic field and are complementary:
[11.22]
a.
I like to—hate to get up in the morning,
b.
The oral—written part of the exam.
The reason for the confusion of meaning in [11.23] is also equally easy to see:
[11.23]
a.
Utterance:
I’m going to April in May.
Target:
I’m going to England in May.
b.
Utterance:
Are my legs, I mean tires, touching the kerb?
Target:
Are my tires touching the kerb?
(from Fromkin 1973)
170 ENGLISH WORDS

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To sum up, all these errors show that meaning plays a very important role in the retrieval system of the
mental lexicon. Blends and semantic substitutions occur because in normal speech speakers tend to line up
several words in the target semantic area before homing in on the one that they finally select.