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In Prime Minister鈥檚 Questions on January 19 the SNP leader, Ian Blackford, mispronounced the word haemorrhaging as 鈥渉ae-ma-ge-ring鈥� instead of 鈥渉ae-ma-re-ging鈥�. To be fair to Blackford, this is actually a surprisingly common slip of the tongue and his meaning was perfectly clear. But why did those two syllables switch places like that? And why are there other words that people seem to slip up on, sometimes with humorous effect?

Blackford鈥檚 trip over the word 鈥渉aemorrhaging鈥� is a common process observed by linguists where whole syllables, or parts of them, can be swapped. This process is called by linguists.

This is particularly common when a person is speaking quickly or under pressure. Of course, public speaking in front of your political peers and rivals on national broadcast TV is the perfect environment for this.

What happened here?

In English, syllable swapping commonly happens when parts of different words change places. For example, a person might say: . This is known as a Spoonerism, after the 19th-century clergyman and academic William Archibald Spooner, whose nervous habit of transposing syllables earned him his place in the history of linguistics.

Swapping of sounds is more common than it might seem. Consonant swapping as in 鈥渉ae-ma-ge-ring鈥� is found in , such as Tagalog in the Philippines, Amharic in Ethiopia and Quechua in parts of South America.

It鈥檚 also something that is played on in language games and jokes. Shel Silverstein鈥檚 poetry book 鈥溾�� is a great example of playful syllable swapping for comical effect.

Freudian slip or simple mistake?

Sometimes these slips of the tongue have unfortunate effects. A stream of broadcasters have slipped up on national TV and radio over the name of Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt and have replaced his surname with a similar sounding, impolite word. Linguist Patrycja Strycharczuk that this phenomenon may occur as the person is anticipating an upcoming word starting with a similar sound (such as 鈥淐onservative Party鈥� or 鈥淐ulture Secretary鈥�). There is also the fact that a rude word is memorable and may accidentally pop in.

Rather than switching syllables or isolated sounds, sometimes we may even say a whole different word that sounds similar instead of our intended word. These 鈥渕alopropisms鈥� (from the character in Richard Sheridan鈥檚 18th-century play The Rivals) have long been used in literature for comedic effect. In Shakespeare鈥檚 Much Ado About Nothing, Constable Dogberry declares: 鈥淥ur watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons鈥� (instead of 鈥渁pprehended two conspicuous persons鈥�).

Some more recent malopropisms are the various and humorous times that we were left wondering if early morning newsreaders and MPs had yet to eat when they spoke about 鈥� instead of 鈥淏rexit鈥�.

The New Zealand COVID minister, Chris Hipkins, also made headlines last year by suggesting the public should get out and 鈥溾��. He rapidly corrected himself to 鈥渟tretch鈥� and resignedly (and accurately) bemoaned that the media 鈥渨ould all have fun with him later鈥�.

Many 鈥渕ispronunciations鈥� are very common in English. For instance, the pronunciation of 鈥渘ucular鈥� for 鈥渘uclear鈥� with an extra vowel is used by some American English speakers (most famously ). In more recent times, English speakers, including Joe Biden, have been heard to refer to the variant of COVID-19 with an additional consonant instead of 鈥渙micron鈥� as the 鈥渙mni鈥� beginning is more familiar (and omnipresent) in English.

Why 鈥榤ispronounciations鈥� are not just mistakes

What are often referred to as 鈥渕ispronunciations鈥� or 鈥渟lips of the tongue鈥� are not just embarrassing mistakes, they can also be language change in action. Sometimes mispronunciations are so common that they become people鈥檚 normal way of speaking. In parts of the US people may be heard to regularly say 鈥減erty鈥� as opposed to 鈥減retty鈥�.

A historical example is the word 鈥渁pron鈥� which actually comes from the Middle English 鈥溾�� 鈥� which derives from the French naperon (small table cloth). Over time, people turned 鈥渁 napron鈥� into 鈥渁n apron鈥�, resulting in the word we know today.

In addition, sometimes, what many may think of as 鈥渕ispronunciations鈥� actually just reflects different accents. For hundreds of years if not more, and since Old English, some people have said 鈥�-ing鈥� on the end of words such as 鈥渞unning鈥�, 鈥渏umping鈥�, 鈥渟peaking鈥�, and others have said 鈥�-in鈥�. This latter pronunciation can be heard in English dialects spoken all around the world and is often considered a mistake, when this is simply not the case.

Another example is the pronunciation of 鈥渇ilm鈥� as 鈥渇ilem鈥� in some accents which is neither a mistake nor recent, as it has appeared in the . 鈥淔ilem鈥� can still be heard in the speech of English speakers in Scotland and Ireland. For many speakers of these dialects, the 鈥渓鈥� and 鈥渕鈥� sounds are not normally pronounced together and are separated by a vowel.

Speech 鈥渆rrors鈥� are a great resource for linguists. They tell us about how people use and process language. They can also sometimes tell us about how language might change. This poses the question: how many people have to regularly 鈥渕ispronounce鈥� a word until we begin to consider that the new pronunciation is just the regular, normal way of saying it?

It may be that one day in the future, Blackford鈥檚 pronunciation of haemorrhaging becomes the norm. Keep your ears open 鈥� the next time you hear a 鈥渕ispronunciation鈥� could be the birth of a new word in the making.

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