Grammar as Processor
A Distributed Morphology account of spontaneous speech errors
1st Edition
Published on 14. January 2009
XIII, 372 pages
978-90-272-8963-6 (ISBN)
Description
Spontaneous speech errors provide valuable evidence not only for the processes that mediate between a communicative intention and the articulation of an utterance but also for the types of grammatical entities that are manipulated during production. This study proposes an analysis of speech errors that is informed by grammar theory. In particular, it is shown how characteristic properties of erroneous German utterances can be accounted for within Distributed Morphology (DM). The investigation focuses on two groups of errors: Errors that result from the manipulation of semantic and morphosyntactic features, and errors which appear to involve the application of a post-error repair strategy. It is argued that a production model which incorporates DM allows for a straightforward account of the attested, sometimes complex, error patterns. DM mechanisms, for instance, render unnecessary the assumption of repair processes. Besides providing an account for the attested error patterns, the theory also helps us in explaining why certain errors do not occur. In this sense, DM makes for a psychologically real model of grammar.
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Content
- Grammar as Processor
- Editorial page
- Title page
- LCC data
- Table of contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1.1. Motivations for investigating speech errors
- 1.2. The speech error corpus
- 1.3. A first look at the speech error data
- 1.3.1 Semantic anticipation and perseveration
- 1.3.2 Feature mismatch
- 1.3.3 Feature stranding and feature shift
- 1.3.4 Accommodation
- 1.4. Outline of the book
- Grammar in use
- 2.1. On mentalism and psychological reality
- 2.2. The processing of grammatical structure
- 2.2.1 Phonological structure
- 2.2.1.1 Segments and segment clusters
- 2.2.1.2 The manipulation of subsegmental features
- 2.2.1.3 Suprasegmentals
- 2.2.2 Morphological complexity
- 2.2.2.1 Stranding
- 2.2.2.2 Non-concatenative morphology
- 2.2.3 Syntactic transformations
- 2.2.3.1 The Derivational Theory of Complexity
- 2.2.3.2 The psychological reality of empty elements
- 2.2.3.3 Transformational errors
- 2.3. Conclusion
- Theoretical background
- 3.1. Multi-level models of language production
- 3.1.1 Processing levels
- 3.1.2 Lexical retrieval
- 3.1.3 Flow of information
- 3.1.4 Summary
- 3.2. Distributed Morphology: A sketch of the framework
- 3.2.1 The structure of the grammar
- 3.2.2 Morphological Structure
- 3.2.2.1 Morpheme types and local licensing
- 3.2.2.2 Morphological operations: Merger, insertion, and fusion
- 3.2.3 Phonological Form
- 3.2.3.1 Vocabulary insertion
- 3.2.3.2 Phonological readjustment
- 3.2.4 Summary
- 3.3. Conclusion
- Semantic features in language production
- 4.1. Non-random insertion: Distinguishing cats from dogs
- 4.2. Semantic features in speech errors
- 4.2.1 Semantic substitutions
- 4.2.2 Semantic anticipations and perseverations
- 4.2.3 Summary
- 4.3. A note on compositional semantics
- 4.3.1 The count/mass distinction
- 4.3.2 Semantic (natural) gender
- 4.3.3 Semantic negation
- 4.3.4 Summary
- 4.4. Conclusion
- Morphosyntactic features in language production
- 5.1. The processing of grammatical gender
- 5.1.1 Definition and assignment of gender
- 5.1.2 Underspecification of grammatical gender
- 5.1.2.1 Gender accommodation
- 5.1.2.2 The identical gender effect
- 5.1.2.3 Against gender impoverishment
- 5.1.3 The limits of gender accommodation
- 5.1.4 Summary
- 5.2. Defective feature copy I: Local agreement
- 5.2.1 Experimental studies on proximity concord
- 5.2.2 Local subject-verb agreement in speech errors
- 5.2.2.1 Agreement with noun within subject DP
- 5.2.2.2 Agreement with noun within object/adjunct XP
- 5.2.2.3 Agreement with local nominative DP
- 5.2.2.4 SVA-errors in blends
- 5.2.2.5 The prominence of [+plural]
- 5.2.2.6 Morphosyntactic factors: Case and gender
- 5.2.2.7 Morphophonological factor: Zero-marking
- 5.2.2.8 Semantic factors: Animacy and collectivity
- 5.2.2.9 Summary
- 5.2.3 Transformations and feature copy
- 5.2.3.1 Local SVA in embedded clauses
- 5.2.3.2 Local SVA in matrix clauses
- 5.2.3.3 Summary
- 5.2.3.4 A note on local SVA in polar questions
- 5.2.4 Local SVA and the Minimalist Program
- 5.2.5 Local agreement involving pronouns
- 5.2.6 Summary
- 5.3. Defective feature copy II: Long-distance agreement
- 5.3.1 LDA in natural languages
- 5.3.2 LDA in speech errors
- 5.3.2.1 Matrix verb agrees with embedded argument
- 5.3.2.2 Embedded verb agrees with matrix argument
- 5.3.2.3 A special case: Anticipatory agreement
- 5.3.3 Summary: Agreement domains
- 5.4. Feature shift and feature stranding
- 5.4.1 Number
- 5.4.2 Tense
- 5.4.3 Negation
- 5.4.4 Gender
- 5.4.5 Case
- 5.4.6 Summary
- 5.5. Conclusion
- Rethinking accommodation
- 6.1. A typology of accommodations
- 6.1.1 Phonological accommodation
- 6.1.2 Morphophonological accommodation
- 6.1.3 Morphological accommodation
- 6.1.4 Morphosyntactic accommodation
- 6.1.5 Summary
- 6.2. Feature copy
- 6.2.1 Gender agreement
- 6.2.2 Subject-verb agreement
- 6.2.3 Summary
- 6.3. Feature stranding
- 6.3.1 Spell-out of feature bundles
- 6.3.2 Phonological readjustment
- 6.3.3 Context-sensitive spell-out of features
- 6.3.4 Summary
- 6.4. Local licensing
- 6.4.1 Phonological readjustment and suppletion
- 6.4.2 Morpheme insertion
- 6.4.3 Competing nominalizations and DP-internal structure
- 6.4.4 Accounting for categorial identity
- 6.4.4.1 The role of licensing in root exchanges
- 6.4.4.2 The role of adjacency in root exchanges
- 6.4.5 Summary
- 6.4.6 An alternative account: Minimize Exponence
- 6.5. Action!": Two complex cases
- 6.5.1 Error #1: Morpheme insertion, feature copy & readjustment
- 6.5.2 Error #2: Case assignment, morpheme insertion & feature copy
- 6.6. Against repair strategies
- 6.6.1 Reconsidering (morpho)phonological accommodation
- 6.6.2 An exception: Lexical construal
- 6.6.3 A possible surface filter
- 6.6.4 Summary
- 6.7. Repairs: Two further issues
- 6.7.1 Too late for repair
- 6.7.1.1 Morpheme stranding
- 6.7.1.2 Feature mismatch within DP
- 6.7.1.3 Subcategorization errors
- 6.7.1.4 Summary
- 6.7.2 Partial repair
- 6.7.3 Summary
- 6.8. Conclusion
- Conclusion
- 7.1. Language production in the DM-model
- 7.2. Speech errors in the DM-model
- 7.3. Problems and perspectives
- Speech error data
- Appendix I: Notational conventions
- Appendix II: Errors distribution
- Appendix III: Semantic anticipation & perseveration
- III.1 Semantic anticipation
- III.2 Semantic perseveration
- Appendix IV: Feature mismatch
- IV.1 Local subject-verb agreement
- IV.2 Long-distance subject-verb agreement
- IV.3 Feature mismatch on pronoun
- IV.4 Feature mismatch within DP
- IV.5 Subcategorization errors
- Appendix V: Feature stranding & feature shift
- V.1 Feature stranding
- V.2 Feature shift
- Appendix VI: Accommodation
- VI.1 Feature copy
- VI.2 Feature stranding
- VI.3 Local licensing
- VI.4 Combined effects
- VI.5 Lexical construal
- References
- Subject index
- The series Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today
