Speech errors: types, causes, examples

Speech is a channel for the development of intelligence; the sooner the language is mastered, the easier and more complete the knowledge will be assimilated.

Nikolai Ivanovich Zhinkin, Soviet linguist and psychologist

We think of speech as an abstract category, inaccessible to direct perception. Meanwhile, this is the most important indicator of a person’s culture, his intellect and thinking, a way of understanding the complex connections of nature, things, society and transmitting this information through communication.

It is obvious that when learning and already using something, we make mistakes due to inability or ignorance. And speech, like other types of human activity (in which language is an important component), is no exception in this regard. All people make mistakes, both in written and spoken language. Moreover, the concept of speech culture, as the idea of a “speech ideal,” is inextricably linked with the concept of speech error. In essence, these are parts of the same process, and, therefore, striving for perfection, we must be able to recognize speech errors and eradicate them.

Types of speech errors

First, let's figure out what speech errors are. Speech errors are any cases of deviation from current language norms. Without their knowledge, a person can live, work and communicate normally with others. But the effectiveness of the actions taken in certain cases may suffer. In this regard, there is a risk of being misunderstood or misunderstood. And in situations where our personal success depends on it, this is unacceptable.

The author of the classification of speech errors given below is Doctor of Philology Yu. V. Fomenko. Its division, in our opinion, is the simplest, devoid of academic pretentiousness and, as a result, understandable even to those who do not have a special education.

Types of speech errors:

Examples

Comparison (contrast) of two logically heterogeneous (different in scope and content) concepts in a sentence or text

The lesson was attended by the director and librarian

, as well as
Anna Petrovna Ivanova
and
Zoya Ivanovna Petrova
;
He leaned his back
on the radiator;
For good studies
and raising their children,
parents
of students received letters of gratitude from the school administration.

Violation of cause-and-effect relationships

In recent years there have been a lot

done to modernize education, but teachers work in the old way,
since
the issues of modernization of education are
poorly
.

A missing link in an explanation, a “logical leap.”

It is hardly possible to block the flow of people through our yard. [?] How I want the yard to be an adornment for both the school and the village.

Rearranging parts of the text (if it is not due to the assignment for the essay or presentation)

It's time to return this word to its true meaning! Honor... But how to do this?

Unjustified substitution of the person from whom the story is told (for example, first from the first, then from the third person)

The author writes

about nature,
describes
the nature of the north,
I see
snow and expanses of snowy plains.

Comparison of logically incomparable concepts

Syntax

Encyclopedic articles are different
from
other scientific
articles
.

Composition and text errors

Bad start

The text begins with a sentence containing an indication of the previous context, which is absent in the text itself, by the presence of demonstrative word forms in the first sentence, for example: In this

text author...

Errors
in the main part
a) Bringing together relatively distant thoughts in one sentence.

b) Lack of consistency in presentation; incoherence and violation of sentence order.

c) The use of sentences of different types in structure, leading to difficulty understanding the meaning.

Bad ending

Duplication of conclusion, unjustified repetition of previously expressed thoughts.

Factual errors
(F) -
a type of non-linguistic error, which consists in the fact that the writer cites facts that contradict reality, gives incorrect information about factual circumstances, both related and not related to the analyzed text (background knowledge)
Type of error

Examples and causes of speech errors

S. N. Tseitlin writes: “The complexity of the speech generation mechanism is a factor contributing to the occurrence of speech errors.” Let's look at special cases, based on the classification of types of speech errors proposed above.

Pronunciation errors

Pronunciation or spelling errors arise as a result of violation of the rules of spelling. In other words, the reason lies in the incorrect pronunciation of sounds, sound combinations, individual grammatical structures and borrowed words. These also include accentological errors - violation of stress norms. Examples:

Pronunciation : “of course” (not “of course”), “poshti” (“almost”), “plotlit” (“pays”), “precedent” (“precedent”), “iliktrichesky” (“electric”), “ kolidor" ("corridor"), "labolatoriya" ("laboratory"), "tyshcha" ("thousand"), "shchas" ("now").

Incorrect emphasis : “calls”, “dialogue”, “agreement”, “catalogue”, “overpass”, “alcohol”, “beets”, “phenomenon”, “driver”, “expert”.

Lexical errors

Lexical errors are violations of the rules of vocabulary, first of all, the use of words in meanings that are unusual for them, distortion of the morphemic form of words and the rules of semantic agreement. They come in several types.

Using a word in a meaning that is unusual for it . This is the most common lexical speech error. Within this type there are three subtypes:

A mixture of words that are similar in meaning: “He read the book back.”
A mixture of words that sound similar: excavator - escalator, ear - colossus, Indian - turkey, single - ordinary.
A mixture of words that are similar in meaning and sound: subscriber - subscription, addressee - addressee, diplomat - diplomat, well-fed - well-fed, ignorant - ignorant. “Cashier for business travelers” (required – business travelers).

Word writing . Examples of errors: Georgian, heroism, underground, spender.

Violation of the rules of semantic agreement of words . Semantic agreement is the mutual adaptation of words along the lines of their material meanings. For example, you cannot say, “I raise this toast,” because “to raise” means “to move,” which is not consistent with the wish. “Through a door that is ajar” is a speech error, because the door cannot be both ajar (open a little) and wide open (wide open) at the same time.

This also includes pleonasms and tautologies. Pleonasm is a phrase in which the meaning of one component is entirely included in the meaning of another. Examples: “the month of May”, “traffic route”, “residence address”, “huge metropolis”, “be on time”. A tautology is a phrase whose members have the same root: “They assigned a task,” “The organizer was a public organization,” “I wish you long creative life.”

Phraseological errors

Phraseological errors occur when the form of phraseological units is distorted or they are used in a meaning that is unusual for them. Yu. V. Fomenko identifies 7 varieties:

Change in the lexical composition of the phraseological unit: “As long as the essence and the matter” instead of “As long as the court and the matter”;
Truncation of phraseological unit: “It was just right for him to hit the wall” (phraseological unit: “beat his head against the wall”);
Expansion of the lexical composition of the phraseological unit: “You have come to the wrong address” (phraseological unit: contact the address);
Distortion of the grammatical form of a phraseological unit: “I hate sitting with folded hands.” Correct: “folded”;
Contamination (combination) of phraseological units: “You can’t do everything with folded sleeves” (combination of phraseological units “carelessly” and “folded arms”);
Combination of pleonasm and phraseological unit: “Random stray bullet”;
Using a phraseological unit in an unusual meaning: “Today we will talk about the film from cover to cover.”

Morphological errors

Morphological errors are incorrect formation of word forms. Examples of such speech errors: “reserved seat”, “shoes”, “towels”, “cheaper”, “one and a half hundred kilometers away”.

Syntax errors

Syntactic errors are associated with violation of the rules of syntax - the construction of sentences, the rules of combining words. There are a lot of varieties, so we will give just a few examples.

Incorrect agreement: “There are a lot of books in the closet”;
Mismanagement: “Pay the fare”;
Syntactic ambiguity: “Reading Mayakovsky made a strong impression” (read Mayakovsky or read Mayakovsky’s works?);
Design Shift: “The first thing I ask of you is your attention.” Correct: “The first thing I ask of you is your attention”;
An extra correlative word in the main sentence: “We looked at those stars that dotted the whole sky.”

Spelling mistakes

This type of error occurs due to ignorance of the rules of writing, hyphenation, and abbreviation of words. Characteristic of written speech. For example: “the dog barked”, “sit on the chairs”, “come to the train station”, “Russian. language", "gram. error".

Punctuation errors

Punctuation errors are the incorrect use of punctuation marks when writing.

Stylistic errors

We have devoted a separate article to this topic.

Violation of the rules of semantic agreement of words

Semantic coordination is the mutual adaptation of words according to the principle of their real meanings. For example, the following expressions are considered incorrect:

“Colorless black trees sway in the wind” - trees cannot be “colorless” and “black.”
“The horses slowly rushed at full speed” is a speech error, since “slowly” (meaning slowly), and “at full speed” (galloped with all their might).

This also includes pleonasms and tautologies.

Pleonasm is inappropriate verbosity, excessive use of words: “overall dimensions”, “first premiere”, “price list”, “young youth”.
Tautology - phrases with a common root: “an incident happened”, “to capture impressions”, “oil”.

Ways to correct and prevent speech errors

How to prevent speech errors? Work on your speech should include:

Reading fiction.
Visiting theaters, museums, exhibitions.
Communication with educated people.
Constant work to improve speech culture.

Online course “Russian language”

Speech errors are one of the most problematic topics that receive little attention in school. There are not so many topics in the Russian language in which people most often make mistakes - about 20. We decided to devote the course “Russian Language” to these topics. During the classes, you will have the opportunity to practice competent writing skills using a special system of multiple distributed repetitions of material through simple exercises and special memorization techniques.

How to improve your own speech?

Speech errors are difficult to notice on your own, especially if they are made due to ignorance of any nuances of the language. Most often, speech errors are reported by people around. Each person decides for himself whether to fight a problem or let it take its course. However, speech errors can seriously impair the quality of daily life.

To eliminate speech problems, it is recommended:

Take a course with a speech therapist if you have established pronunciation defects;
Read a lot of fiction, scientific and journalistic literature (the correct spelling and pronunciation of words, as well as the correct construction of sentences will be automatically remembered by the brain);
Learn the basic rules of the Russian language;
Improve speech culture by visiting specific events: exhibitions, theaters, and so on;
Communicate more with other people, while giving preference to educated individuals;
Improve your language skills with the help of special training programs or attend language courses.

The overall impression of a person’s speech improves in the case of well-executed diction. Clear pronunciation of each sound, correct selection of intonation and voice volume, combined with correctly constructed sentences, will help achieve a positive reaction from listeners. In addition, the culture of speech and literacy in writing immediately make it possible to judge the education of a person as a whole.

The impression of an individual is formed not only through competent speech, but also through general intellectual development, attentiveness, fast and original thinking. BrainApps will allow you to improve these skills. Moreover, classes can begin as early as childhood.

Reviews and comments

Now you can practice and find speech errors in this article or share other examples you know. Also, take a look at our literacy course.

We also recommend reading:

Storytelling
Development of speech culture
Recommendations for learning Russian
Lukomorye, cat and literacy
How to independently learn to write correctly in Russian
Our. Native. Russian.
How to learn to speak beautifully
How to develop eloquence: some tips
Learning your native language: a selection of useful materials
Six ways to learn from your mistakes
Learning a foreign language: old rules about the main thing

Keywords:_D1048, _D1049, 1Russian, 1Storytelling

Examples

Distortion of the content of a literary work, misinterpretation, poor choice of examples

Bazarov was a nihilist and therefore killed the old woman with an ax

;
Lensky returned to his estate from England;
Happiness for Oblomov was
loneliness and indifference.
F2

Inaccuracy in the quote. No indication of the author of the quotation. Incorrectly named author of the quote.

The book means a lot to me, because Lenin said: “ Live forever, learn forever.”

!»

Ignorance of historical and other facts, including time displacement.

Great Patriotic War of 1812; The capital of the USA is New York.

Inaccuracies in the names, surnames, and nicknames of literary characters.

Distortions in the names of literary works, their genres, errors in indicating the author.

Turgen b

ev;
"Taras and
Bulba";
in Turgenev's story
"Crime and Punishment".

Ethical errors
(E)
- a violation of the system of values and rules of ethics: statements that degrade human dignity, expressing an arrogant and cynical attitude towards the human person, ill will, manifestations of verbal aggression, slang words and phrases.
Type of error