Acoustic measurements of induced slips of the tongue in children and adults

Abstract

Although many studies of slips of the tongue have been conducted with adults, very few investigations have considered children's slips of the tongue. Furthermore, because spontaneous slips of the tongue typically are not captured with tape recordings, very few acoustic studies of slips of the tongue have been conducted with any subjects. The present study utilized an elicitation technique to induce slips of the tongue in a group of 5-year-old children and a group of adults. Subjects repeated short tongue-twister phrases (e.g., Swiss wristwatch shop), as well as control phrases that were easier to produce (e.g., Swiss chocolate store). The types of errors that subjects made (substitutions, dysfluencies, etc.) were computed, and acoustic measurements of certain segments were made. One observation made from the acoustic data was that segment durations produced by both the children and the adults were 30%–4.0% longer for the tongue twisters versus the control phrases, even when productions were correct in both conditions. Additional findings and their implications concerning speech production will be presented.