A Linguistics Workbook, 4th Edition

Name

Section

9.1 Speech Errors

The phrases and sentences 1-12 illustrate various types of speech errors. Read

them, and answer the question that follows. (Some of the examples are taken from

Fromkin 1973, Foss and Hakes 1978, and Garrett 1975.)

1. when the bare gets all ground (as in autumn)


2. Stocks stay up. (refers to an article of clothing)


3. Seymour sliced the knife with a salami.


4. The early worm gets the bird.


5. Fire fighters are helping to put out blazers.


6. mushmallows (hint: a fungus and a confection)


7. taddle tennis


8. budbegs


9. foon speeding


10. Make it so the apple has less trees.


11. bridge of the neck


12. The legislature is in its final week of law-breaking.

Question

Discuss the nature of each speech error. Point out whether the error involves

phonology, morphology, syntax, or a combination of any of these. That is, what

type of unit is involved? What expression was intended in each case?

1. a. Type of error:

b. Linguistic unit involved:

c. Intended expression: