Unretraced and Retraced False Starts in Common Speech Errors

Unretraced False Start
False starts (unretraced) corrections of a word is included. When the speakers have speech errors, they make corrections of a word but they do not repeat of one or more words before the corrected word. They continue saying/speaking the next word without repeating the wrong word (Clark, 1977:264).

For example:
-These/ those dirty cups.

Retraced False Starts
Retraced false start is correction of a word which included the repeating of one or more words before the corrected word. When the speaker realized that they make speech errors, they make correction of their words. They make repetitions of one or more words before the corrected word.

For example:
- Turn on the stove / the heater switch
- Those clean / those dirty cups.

The category called corrections is like false starts, except that they contain an explicit utterance such as I mean, or rather, or that is to mark the phrase as a correction. What was striking, however, was what when contents words were corrected, the speaker usually (77 percent of the time) retraced one or more words before them, as in the silvery/ the shiny tray, where the is repeated along with the replacement word shiny. In the race cases when function words were corrected, the speaker usually(78 percents of the time) did not retraced any of the previous words, as in under / behind the sofa, where under is corrected to behind without any retracing.

The speech errors called corrections prove much the same point. These errors consist of a “correction phrase”, such as I mean, that is, or well, followed by the “corrected words”, the words to replace what was said earlier. Repeats, false starts, and correction, therefore, provide excellent evidence that speaker consider the constituent a basic unit of execution. They attempt, to the best of their ability, to execute constituents as complete wholes. When for some reason they do stop, make a false start, or correct themselves, they tend to return to the beginning of the constituent (Clark, 1977:264).