ENG511 Study Material

Lesson 1 · Introduction to Psycholinguistics · Topic 1 · Introduction to Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguistics is the study of how individuals comprehend, produce, and acquire language. Psycholinguists are also interested in the social rules involved in language use and brain mechanism associated with language.

Origin of the Term

The term Psycholinguistics was coined in 1936 by Jacob Robert Kantor. It was frequently used in 1946 due to his student Nichols Hennry. Psycholinguistics as a separate branch of study emerged in the late 1950s and 1960s as a result of Chomskyan revolution.

Sub-Disciplines within Psycholinguistics

Theoretical psycholinguistics Developmental psycholinguistics Social psycholinguistics Educational psycholinguistics Neuro-psycholinguistics Experimental psycholinguistics Applied psycholinguistics To conclude, Psycholinguistics encompasses different aspects of language, from language acquisition, to syntax and semantics, phonology and morphology. Psycholinguistics aims to advance our understanding of the human brain.

Grammar: deals with Phonology, syntax, and semantics. Competence and performance Linguistic competence Linguistic Performance Function: a description of how sentences/utterances communicate

Structure: Grammar of language Process: A description of mental tools, materials and procedures people use in producing or comprehending utterances.

Psycholinguistics Involves:

Language processing Lexical storage and retrieval Language acquisition Special circumstances The brain and language Second language acquisition and use To conclude, Psycholinguistics is an area of study which draws from linguistics (study of language) and psychology (study of behavior and mind) and focuses upon the comprehension and production of language.

Topic 2

The Scope of Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguistics is a part of the emerging field of study called cognitive science. It is concerned with the relationship between the human mind and the language It is interested in the ways of storing lexical items and syntactic rules in mind It is also interested in the processes of memory involved in perception and interpretation of texts Psycholinguistics covers three main points (Clark & Clark, 1977; Tanenhaus, 1989):

Q1. Comprehension: How people understand spoken and written language

1. Imitation
2. Conditioning
3. Social cognition
4. Speech production: How people produce language

Spoken words are selected to be produced, have their phonetics formulated and then finally are articulated by the motor system in the vocal apparatus

3. Language Acquisition: How people learn language

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words to communicate. The Significance of Psycholinguistics for Language Teaching and Learning Psycholinguistics is the detailed study of the psychology of language. To conclude, scope of psycholinguistics involves: How language is acquired and produced by users How brain works on language Comprehension, speech production and acquisition processes.

Language Processes and Linguistic Knowledge

Tacit knowledge Explicit knowledge Semantics Syntax Phonology Pragmatics

Garden path sentences

A sentence whose wording leads one to expect one meaning, but it turns out to be another one. e.g. " The old man the boat".