Page 40 - ParentsWorld March 2020 flipbuilder
P. 40

n
                                          nurturing 21st century childrenurturing 21st century children
                                            fun with un with
                                            f
                                               words ords
                                               w



                               To avoid slips of tongue, just


                                   slEAK sPOWlY




                             Slips-of-tongue are speech errors in which words are
                               pronounced incorrectly or uttered unintentionally

                                                rooPa banErJEE


                   ttering accidental words when you intend   opinion’ becoming ‘unamity of opinion.’ exchange errors
                   to say something else is commonly referred   are double shifts where two linguistic units change places.
                   to as a slip of the tongue. Slips-of-tongue   here, ‘getting your nose remodeled’ becomes ‘getting
         uare speech errors in which words are pro-       your model renosed,’ and a metathesis error is when two
         nounced incorrectly or uttered unintentionally.  sounds are switched, each taking the place of the other,
           Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psycho-  where ‘pus pocket’ will become ‘pos pucket.’
         analysis, believed that such slip-ups were truths embed-  Omission errors are one of the most common errors
         ded in the subconscious mind finding release through   of speech — an entire word is replaced while speaking
         normal conversation. he posited that what people said   fast or under stress. Many politicians are prone to this
         but didn’t mean to say are repressed thoughts that   speech gaffe. Some famous political slips of tongue have
         weren’t meant to be disclosed. this resulted in many slips   gone down in history as hilarious faux pas. in 1988, uS
         of the tongue being called Freudian slips or parapraxes   President ronald reagan, while trying to quote Ameri-
         (faulty action).                                 can statesman John Adams who had said, “Facts are
           But Freud’s hypothesis explains only a minority of   stubborn things,” instead said, “Facts are stupid things.”
         speech errors and is somewhat out-dated. latest research   interestingly, we are more likely to create an exist-
         by cognitive scientist Gary Dell, professor of linguistics   ing word (leading), rather than a made-up word (wabbit)
         and psychology at the university of illinois at urbana,   when we make slip of tongue errors. Also, we are less
         contends that slips of tongue are revealing of an individu-  likely to invent a word with an odd letter sequence such
         al’s capacity to use language and its components.    as ‘dlorm’ rather than ‘dorm’. We end up substituting a
           there are three types of slips of tongue: sound, mor-  word that is related in meaning. thus, the substitution
         pheme and word errors. Sound errors occur when word   of a word such as ‘table’ for the word ‘up’ or the word
         sounds get swapped. thus, instead of saying flower pot,   ‘coat’ for the word ‘fire’ is unlikely.
         one may say power flot. this is also known as a spooner-  to avoid, or at least minimise, slips of tongue, slow
         ism. A morpheme error is when morphemes (smallest   down while talking or making a speech. Also, practise
         meaningful units in language) swap with neighbouring   before making a public address.
         words. For example, instead of saying ‘he has already
         packed two trunks,’ one may end up saying, ‘he has   EXErciSE
         already packs two trunked.’ in word errors actual words   too many slips of tongue here! tell us what you think
         get rearranged. For example, ‘i must let the cat out of the   they wanted to say:
         house’ may become ‘i must let the house out of the cat.’  1. Smuck in the tid           2. Odd hack          3. Easy enoughly
           there are also some additional ways of categorising   4. Turn to tend out            5. The Grand Canyon went to my sister.
         these errors. Anticipation error is when an alphabet in   6. You have too many irons in the smoke.
         a later word is replaced by another. this would cause
         ‘reading list’ to be said as ‘leading list.’ Anticipation er-                                  6. You have too many irons in the fire.
         rors are the most common phonological slips.                                                   5. My sister went to the Grand Canyon
           A perseveration error is when a later word is mixed                                          4. Tend to turn out
         up with an earlier. For example, one might say ‘box                                            3. Easily enough  2. Ad hoc
         blackses’ instead of ‘black boxes.’ deletion error is when                                     1. stick in the mud
         some linguistic material is left out. like ‘unanimity of                                       Answers



         parentsworld • march 2020       40
   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45