Without having reviewed any research specific to this question, it strikes
me as a processing error for which psycholinguistics has a strong
explanation.

When we are inserting phonemes in a word string, we sometimes make
retrieval errors.  There are substitution errors, anticipation errors,
reversal errors, and so on.  This particular error may provide some
evidence that the phoneme /k/ and /g/ are stored in close proximity--or
that similar strings of phonemes like /think/ and /thing/ are stored in
close proximity, thus increasing the chance of mis-retrieval. For those
who don't remember their phonology, the sounds /k/ and /g/ differ from
each other only in the feature "voicing."

When retrieving the word /thing/ it is possible that other sounds in the
environment condition our chances for retrieving the correct phoneme for
the final sound.  In the saying provided by Herb, "You have another thing
coming" you will note that immediately following "thing" is a word
beginning with the related phoneme /k/ (coming).  Thus, the version "you
have another think coming" can be analyzed as an anticipation error.  That
is, in rapidly synthesizing this statement, we anticipate the /k/ of
"coming" and replace /g/ with /k/.

As more than one other person noted, one of the lovable things about this
listserv is the way people contribute answers to questions.  Thanks so
much, John, for the information about listserv.  You helped to settle a
question that has vexed me for some time.


R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Eastern Mennonite University

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