The value of spontaneous speech errors as basic data in language production research

Abstract

This paper aimed to reconfirm the contribution of error data observed in spontaneous speeches to language production research, and to find suggestions for the development of current simulation models. First, I introduced the basic perspective of analysis and quantitatively showed the overall trend of speech errors in the Japanese language. Then, I divided the interactive activation model, which has been very effective in describing speech errors, into two versions, conceptual model and computational model, based on when simulation became possible, and showed their behaviors. The factors treated as “noise” in the computational version were examined by analyzing lexical substitution errors from contextual, semantic,and phonological perspectives. The results not only show the importance of finding a way to incorporate contextuality into computational models but also provide suggestions for developing “more human-oriented” computational models.