Spoonerisms

Spoonerisms are a symptom sometimes mentioned in association with "Cluttering." The Fun with Words website defines Spoonerisms as "phrases, sentences, or words in language with sounds swapped. Usually this is done by accident, particularly if you're speaking fast." Named after Bishop Spooner, whose speech was apparently laced with such slips of the tongue, examples of Spoonerisms include:

• The Lord is a loving Shephard -- The Lord is a shoving leopard
• You missed my history lecture -- You hissed my mystery lecture
• Cozy little nook -- Nosey little crook
• Is the Dean busy? -- Is the bean dizzy?
• More Information about Spoonerisms
• Reverend Spooner's Tips of the Slung, an article from Reader's Digest.
• Someone posted several references to "slips of the tongue" on another mailing list recently. Her list is below, with some additions. The references may or may not all refer to "Spoonerisms."
  • Serial order in phonological encoding: an exploration of the 'word onset effect' using laboratory-induced errors. Wilshire CE Cognition. 1998 Aug;68(2):143-66.
  • 'Not by the chair of my hinny hin hin': some general properties of slips of the tongue in young children. Jaeger JJ J Child Lang. 1992 Jun;19(2):335-66.
  • Productive and perceptual constraints on speech-error correction. Berg T Psychol Res. 1992;54(2):114-26.
  • Phonetic features in young children's slips of the tongue. Jaeger JJ Lang Speech. 1992 Jan-Jun;35 ( Pt 1-2):189-205.
  • Slip of the tongue or slip of the ear? On the perception and transcription of naturalistic slips of the tongue. Ferber R J Psycholinguist Res. 1991 Mar;20(2):105-22.
  • Slips of the tongue in very young children. Warren H J Psycholinguist Res. 1986 Jul;15(4):309-44.
  • Representation of serial order in speech: evidence from the repeated phoneme effect in speech errors. Dell GS J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1984 Apr;10(2):222-33.
  • Semantic paraphasia. Buckingham HW Jr, et al. J Commun Disord. 1979 May;12(3):197-209.
  • Schizophrenic speech, slips of the tongue, and jargonaphasia: a reply to Fromkin and to Lecours and Vanier-Clement. Chaika EO Brain Lang. 1977 Jul;4(3):464-75. No
  • Slips of the tongue and lexical storage. Tweney RD, et al. Lang Speech. 1975 Oct-Dec;18(4):388-96. No
  • Slips of the tongue. Fromkin VA Sci Am. 1973 Dec;229(6):110-7.
  • Fromkin, V. (1971). The non-anomalous nature of anomalous utterances. Language, 47, 27-52.
  • Fromkin, V. (Ed.) (1973). Speech errors as linguistic evidence. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.
  • Some slips of the tongue. Goldstein M Psychol Rep. 1968 Jun;22(3):1009-13. No
  • Slips of the tongue. Boomer DS, et al. Br J Disord Commun. 1968 Apr;3(1):2-12. No
  • Verbal and symbolic processes in slips of the tongue. Yazmajian RV J Am Psychoanal Assoc. 1966 Jul;14(3):443-61.
  • Motley, M.T. & Baars, B.J. (1976). Semantic bias effects on the outcomes of verbal slips. Cognition, 4, 177-187.