Skip to main content
Log in

Gender Processing in Speech Production: Evidence from German Speech Errors

  • Published:
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study investigates the relationship between gender processing and the properties of speech errors. Studying German noun substitution errors it was found that intended and intruded nouns were more often of the same grammatical gender than one would expect by chance (“identical gender effect”). In the present study, German slips of the tongue were investigated on the assumption that the occurrence of the identical gender effect depends on the processing level, where the error arises. The syntactic context preceding errors of nonidentical gender was also explored. In the German language, interactions of nonidentical gender nouns often result in agreement violations. It can be shown that gender congruency between nouns and preceding articles also depends on the processing level at which the noun error occurs. The results are consistent with two-stage models of lexical retrieval and speech production, according to which the syntactic information of a noun is only represented during the first stage of lexical access.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Baars, B. J., Motley, M. T., & MacKay, D. (1975). Output editing for lexical status from artificial elicited slips of the tongue. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 14, 382-391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berg, Th. (1992). Prelexical and postlexical features in language production. Applied Psycholinguistics, 13, 199-235.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Berkum, J. J. A. (1996). The psycholinguistics of grammatical gender. Nijmegen: Nijmegen University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bortz, J., Lienert, G. A., & Boehnke, K. (1990). Verteilungsfreie Methoden in der Biostatistik. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butterworth, B. (1989). Lexical access in speech production. In W. Marslen-Wilson (Ed.), Lexical representation and process (pp. 103-135). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caramazza, A., & Miozzo, M. (1997). The relation between syntactic and phonological knowledge in lexical access: Evidence from the 'tip of the tongue' phenomenon. Cognition, 64, 309-343.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, A. (1982). The reliability of speech error data. In A. Cutler (Ed.), Slips of the tongue and language production. Amsterdam: Walter de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, A. (1988). The perfect speech error. In L. M. Hyman & Ch. N. Li (Eds.), Language, speech and mind: studies in honour of Victoria A. Fromkin (pp. 209-223). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, A., & Fay, D. A. (1982). One mental lexicon, phonologically arranged: Comments on Hurford's comments. Linguistic Inquiry, 13, 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dell, G. S. (1986). A spreading-activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychological Review, 93(3), 283-321.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dell, G. S., & Reich, P. A. (1981). Stages in sentence production: An analysis of speech error data. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, 611-629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fay, D. A., & Cutler, A. (1977). Malapropisms and the structure of the mental lexicon, Linguistic Inquiry, 8, 505-520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fromkin, V. A. (1971). The nonanomalous nature of anomalous utterance. Language, 47, 27-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1975). The analysis of sentence production. In G. Bower (Ed.), Pychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 9 (pp. 133-175). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1976). Syntactic processes in sentence production. In R. J. Wales & E. C. T. Walker (Eds.), New approaches to language mechanismus (pp. 231-255). Amsterdam: North-Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1980a). Levels of processing in sentence production. In B. Butterworth (Ed.), Language production: Vol. 1 (pp. 177-220). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1980b). The limits of accommodation: arguments for independent processing levels in sentence production. In V. Fromkin (Ed.), Errors in linguistic performance (pp. 263-271). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1982). Production of speech: Observations from normal and pathological language use. In A. Ellis (Ed.), Normality and Pathology in Cognitive Functions (pp. 19-76). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1984). The organization of processing structure for language production. Applications to aphasic speech. In D. Caplan, A. R. Lecours, & A. Smith (Eds.), Biological perspectives on language (pp. 172-193). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1988). Processes in language production. In F. Newmeyer (Ed.), Linguistics: The Cambridge survey, Vol. III. Language: Psychological and biological aspects (pp. 69-96). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1990). Sentence processing. In D. N. Osherson & H. Lasnik (Eds.), Language. An invitation to cognitive science, Vol. 1 (pp. 133-175). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1992a). Lexical retrieval processes: Semantic field effects. In A. Lehrer & E. F. Kittay (Eds.), Frames, fields and contrasts: New essays in semantic and lexical organization (pp. 377-395). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1992b). Disorders of lexical selection. Cognition, 42, 143-180.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, M. F. (1993). Errors and their relevance for models of language production. In G. Blanken, J. Dittmann, H. Grimm, J. Marshall, & C. Wallesch (Eds.), Linguistic disorders and pathologies (pp. 72-92). Berlin: de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurford, J. R. (1981). Malapropismus, left-to-right listing, and lexicalism. Linguistic Inquiry, 12(3), 419-423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jescheniak, J., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1994). Word frequency effects in speech production: Retrieval of syntactic information and of phonological form. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20(4), 824-843.

    Google Scholar 

  • Köpcke, K.-M. (1982). Untersuchungen zum Genussystem der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Tübingen: Niemeyer

    Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M. (1992). Accessing words in speech production: Stages, processes and representations. Cognition, 42, 1-22.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M., Schriefers, H., Vorberg, D., Meyer, A. S., Pechmann, Th., & Havinga, J. (1991a). The time course of lexical access in speech production: A study of picture naming. Psychological Review 98, 122-142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M., Schriefers, H., Vorberg, D., Meyer, A. S., Pechmann, Th., & Havinga, J. (1991b). Normal and deviant lexical processing: Reply to Dell and O'Seaghdha (1991). Psychological Review, 98, 615-618.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M., Roelofs, A., & Meyer, A. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 1-75.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, E. (1998). Versprecher und Genusverarbeitung (Speech errors and gender processing). Unpublished inaugural dissertation. Köln.

  • Peterson, R. R., & Savoy, P. (1998). Lexical selection and phonological encoding during language production: Evidence for cascaded processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24, 539-557.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roelofs, A. (1992). A spreading-activation theory of lemma retrieval in speaking. Cognition, 42, 107-142.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roelofs, A., Meyer, A. S., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1996). Interaction between semantic and orthographic factors in conceptually driven naming: Comment on Starreveld and La Heij (1995). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 246-251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roelofs, A., Meyer, A. S., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1999). A case for the lemma/lexeme distinction in models of speaking. Comment on Caramazza and Miozzo (1997). Cognition, 69, 219-230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schriefers, H. (1993). Syntactic processes in the production of noun phrases. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, 841-850.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schriefers, H., Meyer, A. S. & Levelt, W. J. M. (1990). Exploring the time course of lexical access in language production: Picture-word interference studies. Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 86-102.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Turenhout, M., Hagoort, P., & Brown, C. M. (1997). Electrophysiological evidence on the time course of semantic and phonological processes in speech production. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Language, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 787-806.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vigliocco, G., Butterworth, B., & Semenza, C. (1995). Constructing subject-verb agreement in speech: The role of semantic and morphological factors. Journal of Memory and Language, 34, 186-215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vigliocco, G., Antonini, T., & Garrett, M. (1997). Grammatical gender is on the tip of Italien tongues. Psychological Science, 8, 314-317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vigliocco, G., Vinson, D. P., Martin, R. C., & Garrett, M. F. (1999). Is 'count' and 'mass' information available when the noun is not? An investigation of the tip of the tongue states and anomia (submitted).

  • Zubin, D. A. & Köpcke, K. M. (1986). Gender and folk taxonomy: The indexical relation between grammatical and lexical categorization. In C. Craig (Ed.), Noun classes and categorization (pp. 139-180). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Marx, E. Gender Processing in Speech Production: Evidence from German Speech Errors. J Psycholinguist Res 28, 601–621 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023216927241

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023216927241

Keywords

Navigation