PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

Definition: The mind cannot be directly observed, so psycholinguists have to devise ways of finding out how it works.

Two main sources: observation of spontaneous utterances and psycholinguistic experiments

Spontaneous utterances which deviate from the norm in some way are the most informative.

Psycholinguistic experiments devise experiments in which the number of variable factors can be controlled, and the results can be accurately measured.

Acquiring language: It used to be thought that animal behaviour could be divided into two types:

Inborn: for example dogs naturally bark

Natural: Many types of behaviour develop ‘naturally’ at a certain age, provided that the surrounding environment is adequate

Human infants pay attention to language from birth. They produce recognizable words at around 12–15 months, and start putting words together at around 18 months

All normal children, and some abnormal ones, will begin to speak if they hear language going on around them.

The content–process controversy: Most psycholinguists now agree that human beings are innately programmed to speak. But they cannot agree on exactly what is innate.

they cannot decide to what extent (if any) language ability is separate from other cognitive abilities.

Children who could not possibly be acquainted go through similar stages in their development, and also make similar mistakes.

Both nature and nurture are important. Innate potentialities lay down the framework, and within this framework, there is
wide variation depending on the environment

There are those who consider that this uniformity of speech development indicates that children innately contain a blueprint for language: this view represents a so-called content approach

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There are those who support a process approach, and argue that children could not possibly contain specific language universals.

The rule-governed nature of child language: Children are not simply imitating what they hear going on around them as if they were parrots

Every child at every stage possesses a grammar with rules of its own even though the system will be simpler than that of an adult

Different children use different strategies for acquiring speech.

Learning the meaning of words

Children have to learn not only the syntax and sounds of their language, but also the meaning of words.

Understanding syntax

Children’s own rules of grammar are more important to them than mere imitation

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. Reader jump to conclusions on the basis of outline clues by imposing what they expect to hear onto the stream of sounds.

The problem arose because when interpreting sentences, people tend to impose a subject–verb–object sequence on them.

Speech production

There are selection errors, cases in which a speaker has picked out the wrong item

There are assemblage errors, cases in which a correct choice has been made, but the utterance has been wrongly assembled

Selection errors usually involve lexical items, so they can tell us which words are closely associated in the mind.

Selection errors tell us how individual words are stored and selected

Assemblage errors indicate how whole sequences are organized ready for production

Speech is organized in accordance with a rhythmic principle – that a tone group is divided into smaller units

some seem to concentrate on the overall rhythm, and slot in words with the same general sound pattern

others prefer to deal with more abstract slots

Children may use a word only in a particular context.

Overgeneralization which take much attention

Undergeneralize often passes unnoticed

Recognizing words

Hearers jump to conclusions on the basis of partial information.

Understanding language is an active,
not a passive process