PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Page 1 of 1
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Pre-reading task
1. “Psycholinguistics” is a combined word? Can you say what
it means based on its formation?
2. Anyone can learn a foreign language. Do you agree with
the opinion? Why or why not?
Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes
underlying the planning, production,
perception, and comprehension of speech. A principal aim of
modern linguistics, since the
Chomskyan revolution, has been to arrive at an understanding
of the way in which our minds
work, and in this respect it could be argued that
psycholinguistics, with its unique blend of
psychology and linguistics, is the most significant of all
the linguistic branches. Not
surprisingly, because it covers a very large territory, the
boundaries of psycholinguistics are
rather fluid. One important sub-branch is concerned with
psychological constraints on the use
of language (e.g. how memory limitations affect speech
production and comprehension), yet
another with the investigation of speech disorders (clinical
linguistics, aphasiology). All of
these areas have been enriched in recent year by technical
information about language and the
brain (neurolinguistics).
Probably the best developed branch of the subject, however, is
the study of language
acquisition in children, the most important outcome of which
has been the establishment of
stages of acquisition. Recent studies of language
acquisition all suggest that children are tuned
into language from a very early age. Just as important is
the issue of what language is used for,
and how it relates to the child’s emerging sense of self.
One of the hotly debated issues in current psycholinguistic
studies, not unrelated to this
discussion, is the extent to which language activity can be
seen as the responsibility of discrete
language modules in the brain, or as the output of general
cognitive abilities used in thinking
and conceptualizing about anything. Some psycholinguists
argue that syntactic processing, the
way in which we produce and recognize well-formed strings, is
carried out separately from
other processes performed by the brain, whilst others argue
for a more wholistic view of
linguistic and other competences. Much of the debate has
centered on evidence from the study
of language abilities can exist separately from others. Nevertheless,
it is still a large step from
evidence of this kind to the conclusion that language is a
wholly discrete cognitive ability
processed in a series of autonomous stages by autonomous
components. The distinctive way in
which language is interwoven with other human activities
would suggest otherwise.
What is at issue here is the relation between brain and mind.
In popular thought these terms are
often used interchangeably, but it’s important not to
confuse them. The brain is the physical
organ in the skull which controls bodily behavior and
thought, and, like any other organ, its
operations can be observed. The mind, on the other hand, comprises
the mental and emotional
capabilities which make us human. In contrast with the brain,
it’s not a physical organ and not
open to direct observation. Clearly our minds are dependent
on our brains, but no one has yet
managed to correlate their workings in any precise way. In
an earlier age theologians were
exercised with trying to find the exact location of the soul
in the body. Attempting to determine
the boundaries of the mind is proving no lesser task.
Psycholinguistics, however, is only indirectly concerned
with the brain; its principal target is
the human mind. As such it has gained considerably from the
discipline of psychology. Making
an utterance involves selecting the appropriate information
one wishes to share (for whatever
purpose), arranging it in such a way that its topic and
focus are clear and will attract the
attention of our addressee, and performing it successfully. There
are various kinds of mental
knowledge required here, including the conceptualization of
the message, its formulation in
terms of a linguistic structure, and its phonological
processing. At the same time, however, it’s
important to bear in mind that language comprehension is not
solely the preserve of
autonomous linguistic processes. We also rely on non-linguistic
cues from texts, and
knowledge of characters, entities and events not explicitly
mentioned, for a full interpretation.
If an action takes place in a restaurant, for example, the
listener can infer the presence of a
kitchen, even though it may not be explicitly mentioned. This
side of psycholinguistics
connects with discourse analysis and is concerned with how
we make sense of texts. Evidence
suggests that we do so by constructing mental models or
schemas based on our knowledge both
of the world around us and of its representation in language.
Comprehension check
Are the following statements about the text True or False? Say
why
1. Psycholinguistics is the significant branch of
linguistics.
2. Technical information about neurolinguistics has enriched
some areas of
psycholinguistics.
3. The establishment of stages of acquisition is the most
important outcome of the
study of language acquisition in children.
4. Children can acquire a language from a very early age.
5. According to most psycholinguistics, syntactic processing
occurs separately from
other brain processes.
6. Brain and mind are basically different from each other.
7. Either the mind or the brain makes us human.
8. The principal target of psycholinguistics is both the
human mind and brain.
9. Mental knowledge includes the conceptualization of the
message, its linguistic
structure and its phonological processing.
10. Language comprehension is not only solely the preserve
of autonomous linguistic
processes, but it is also relied on non-linguistic cues from
the texts.
Discussion
Work in groups of four to discuss the questions.
1. In
what age can a child start learning a foreign language?
2. Which learners may acquire a foreign language better? Children
or adults?
Writing
When you write any kind of composition, and especially when
you write an analysis, you
must operate on at least two levels: a general level that
covers the whole topic and a more
specific level that gives parts, or divisions, of the
general.
In the following example, there are two levels: one whole (general)
and two equal parts.
Example:
I have set several important future goals for
myself.
First, I want to master English in
order to complete my education.
Second, I want to get a good
job so that I can support my family.
General :
Future goals
specific 1 :
English for education
specific 2 :
job for support
In the exercise below, write two sentences to complete each
short text. In your sentences,
name some specific parts of the topic introduced by the
general beginning sentence.
Express your own knowledge and experience in the specifics.
LEARNING ENGLISH
There are several linguistic factors that make it difficult
for a foreign student to learn
English.
First, _____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Second,
___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Translation
Translate the text into the language you prefer
MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS
It was America that many of the most important developments
in mid-century linguistics took
place. In many respects these owed much to the concern of
American anthropologists to record
the culture and languages of native Indian tribes, which
were rapidly vanishing before the
concerted power of the white races. The problem, however, was
that no generally agreed
descriptive framework existed to assist scholars in
providing a coherent account of what were
sometimes called “exotic” languages. But in 1933, the linguist,
Leonard Bloomfield, published
a book called Language, in which he outlined a methodology
for the description of any
language. Bloomfield’s approach was rigorously descriptive. It
is sometimes referred to as
descriptive linguistics, occasionally as “structuralist” (in
a slightly different sense than the
Saussurean), and, despite the revolutions that have occurred
in linguistic thought it is still at the
heart of much linguistic practice. For Bloomfield the task
of linguists was to collect data from
native speakers of a language and then to analyze it by
studying he phonological and syntactic
patterns. The concept that all language is patterned was
fundamental to these procedures.
Bloomfield argued that one of the principal ways in which
items are ordered in a language is in
terms of, what are called its immediate constituents. These,
in turn, can be analyzed into further
constituents, and so on, down to those at the ground level
of words, which are the smallest
continents. A sentence is thus conceived of as a hierarchy
of interlocking continents, all of
which can demonstrate their constituency, because they can
be either substituted by similar
constituents, or redistributed to form other sentences.
Descriptive linguistics provided a powerful means of uncovering
some of the surface structures
of language but it ignored two important aspects of language.
First, it was not interested in
meaning, or semantics, partly because it proved too
difficult to analyze the meanings of
constituents in the same descriptive fashion and partly
because it didn’t seem immediately
relevant to providing an account of syntactic structure. Second,
it labored under the illusion that
description alone was sufficient for arriving at a set of
language rules. It was Chomsky who
showed that more important than mere description for the
linguist was explanation. To arrive at
that meant penetrating beyond the output and understanding
the system which produced
English for Philology
Compiled by NGUYEN THI BICH THUY (2003)
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF PEDAGOGY
FOREIGN LANGUAGE SECTION
Text rearranged by Dr. B.A. NEDDAR
Pre-reading task
1. “Psycholinguistics” is a combined word? Can you say what
it means based on its formation?
2. Anyone can learn a foreign language. Do you agree with
the opinion? Why or why not?
Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes
underlying the planning, production,
perception, and comprehension of speech. A principal aim of
modern linguistics, since the
Chomskyan revolution, has been to arrive at an understanding
of the way in which our minds
work, and in this respect it could be argued that
psycholinguistics, with its unique blend of
psychology and linguistics, is the most significant of all
the linguistic branches. Not
surprisingly, because it covers a very large territory, the
boundaries of psycholinguistics are
rather fluid. One important sub-branch is concerned with
psychological constraints on the use
of language (e.g. how memory limitations affect speech
production and comprehension), yet
another with the investigation of speech disorders (clinical
linguistics, aphasiology). All of
these areas have been enriched in recent year by technical
information about language and the
brain (neurolinguistics).
Probably the best developed branch of the subject, however, is
the study of language
acquisition in children, the most important outcome of which
has been the establishment of
stages of acquisition. Recent studies of language
acquisition all suggest that children are tuned
into language from a very early age. Just as important is
the issue of what language is used for,
and how it relates to the child’s emerging sense of self.
One of the hotly debated issues in current psycholinguistic
studies, not unrelated to this
discussion, is the extent to which language activity can be
seen as the responsibility of discrete
language modules in the brain, or as the output of general
cognitive abilities used in thinking
and conceptualizing about anything. Some psycholinguists
argue that syntactic processing, the
way in which we produce and recognize well-formed strings, is
carried out separately from
other processes performed by the brain, whilst others argue
for a more wholistic view of
linguistic and other competences. Much of the debate has
centered on evidence from the study
of language abilities can exist separately from others. Nevertheless,
it is still a large step from
evidence of this kind to the conclusion that language is a
wholly discrete cognitive ability
processed in a series of autonomous stages by autonomous
components. The distinctive way in
which language is interwoven with other human activities
would suggest otherwise.
What is at issue here is the relation between brain and mind.
In popular thought these terms are
often used interchangeably, but it’s important not to
confuse them. The brain is the physical
organ in the skull which controls bodily behavior and
thought, and, like any other organ, its
operations can be observed. The mind, on the other hand, comprises
the mental and emotional
capabilities which make us human. In contrast with the brain,
it’s not a physical organ and not
open to direct observation. Clearly our minds are dependent
on our brains, but no one has yet
managed to correlate their workings in any precise way. In
an earlier age theologians were
exercised with trying to find the exact location of the soul
in the body. Attempting to determine
the boundaries of the mind is proving no lesser task.
Psycholinguistics, however, is only indirectly concerned
with the brain; its principal target is
the human mind. As such it has gained considerably from the
discipline of psychology. Making
an utterance involves selecting the appropriate information
one wishes to share (for whatever
purpose), arranging it in such a way that its topic and
focus are clear and will attract the
attention of our addressee, and performing it successfully. There
are various kinds of mental
knowledge required here, including the conceptualization of
the message, its formulation in
terms of a linguistic structure, and its phonological
processing. At the same time, however, it’s
important to bear in mind that language comprehension is not
solely the preserve of
autonomous linguistic processes. We also rely on non-linguistic
cues from texts, and
knowledge of characters, entities and events not explicitly
mentioned, for a full interpretation.
If an action takes place in a restaurant, for example, the
listener can infer the presence of a
kitchen, even though it may not be explicitly mentioned. This
side of psycholinguistics
connects with discourse analysis and is concerned with how
we make sense of texts. Evidence
suggests that we do so by constructing mental models or
schemas based on our knowledge both
of the world around us and of its representation in language.
Comprehension check
Are the following statements about the text True or False? Say
why
1. Psycholinguistics is the significant branch of
linguistics.
2. Technical information about neurolinguistics has enriched
some areas of
psycholinguistics.
3. The establishment of stages of acquisition is the most
important outcome of the
study of language acquisition in children.
4. Children can acquire a language from a very early age.
5. According to most psycholinguistics, syntactic processing
occurs separately from
other brain processes.
6. Brain and mind are basically different from each other.
7. Either the mind or the brain makes us human.
8. The principal target of psycholinguistics is both the
human mind and brain.
9. Mental knowledge includes the conceptualization of the
message, its linguistic
structure and its phonological processing.
10. Language comprehension is not only solely the preserve
of autonomous linguistic
processes, but it is also relied on non-linguistic cues from
the texts.
Discussion
Work in groups of four to discuss the questions.
1. In
what age can a child start learning a foreign language?
2. Which learners may acquire a foreign language better? Children
or adults?
Writing
When you write any kind of composition, and especially when
you write an analysis, you
must operate on at least two levels: a general level that
covers the whole topic and a more
specific level that gives parts, or divisions, of the
general.
In the following example, there are two levels: one whole (general)
and two equal parts.
Example:
I have set several important future goals for
myself.
First, I want to master English in
order to complete my education.
Second, I want to get a good
job so that I can support my family.
General :
Future goals
specific 1 :
English for education
specific 2 :
job for support
In the exercise below, write two sentences to complete each
short text. In your sentences,
name some specific parts of the topic introduced by the
general beginning sentence.
Express your own knowledge and experience in the specifics.
LEARNING ENGLISH
There are several linguistic factors that make it difficult
for a foreign student to learn
English.
First, _____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Second,
___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Translation
Translate the text into the language you prefer
MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS
It was America that many of the most important developments
in mid-century linguistics took
place. In many respects these owed much to the concern of
American anthropologists to record
the culture and languages of native Indian tribes, which
were rapidly vanishing before the
concerted power of the white races. The problem, however, was
that no generally agreed
descriptive framework existed to assist scholars in
providing a coherent account of what were
sometimes called “exotic” languages. But in 1933, the linguist,
Leonard Bloomfield, published
a book called Language, in which he outlined a methodology
for the description of any
language. Bloomfield’s approach was rigorously descriptive. It
is sometimes referred to as
descriptive linguistics, occasionally as “structuralist” (in
a slightly different sense than the
Saussurean), and, despite the revolutions that have occurred
in linguistic thought it is still at the
heart of much linguistic practice. For Bloomfield the task
of linguists was to collect data from
native speakers of a language and then to analyze it by
studying he phonological and syntactic
patterns. The concept that all language is patterned was
fundamental to these procedures.
Bloomfield argued that one of the principal ways in which
items are ordered in a language is in
terms of, what are called its immediate constituents. These,
in turn, can be analyzed into further
constituents, and so on, down to those at the ground level
of words, which are the smallest
continents. A sentence is thus conceived of as a hierarchy
of interlocking continents, all of
which can demonstrate their constituency, because they can
be either substituted by similar
constituents, or redistributed to form other sentences.
Descriptive linguistics provided a powerful means of uncovering
some of the surface structures
of language but it ignored two important aspects of language.
First, it was not interested in
meaning, or semantics, partly because it proved too
difficult to analyze the meanings of
constituents in the same descriptive fashion and partly
because it didn’t seem immediately
relevant to providing an account of syntactic structure. Second,
it labored under the illusion that
description alone was sufficient for arriving at a set of
language rules. It was Chomsky who
showed that more important than mere description for the
linguist was explanation. To arrive at
that meant penetrating beyond the output and understanding
the system which produced
English for Philology
Compiled by NGUYEN THI BICH THUY (2003)
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF PEDAGOGY
FOREIGN LANGUAGE SECTION
Text rearranged by Dr. B.A. NEDDAR
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