Introduction and Scope of Psycholinguistics.pptx

A brief overview of Psycholinguistics

1. Introduction and Scope of Psycholinguistics

2. Origin of the term The term psycholinguistics was coined in 1936 by Jacob Robert Kantor in his book An Objective Psychology of Grammar and started being used among his team at Indiana University , But its use finally became frequent with the publication of a research article titled Language and P sycholinguistics: A R eview , by his student Nicholas Pronko , in 1946 where it was used for the first time to talk about an interdisciplinary science "that could be coherent", as well as in the title of Psycholinguistics: A Survey of Theory and Research Problems , a 1954 book by Charles E. Osgood and Thomas A. Sebeok .

3. Definitions "Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental mechanisms that make it possible for people to use language. It is a scientific discipline whose goal is a coherent theory of the way in which language is produced and understood” ( Granham , 2013). “Psycholinguistics is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend, and produce language” (Encyclopedia MDPI). “The use of language and speech as a window to the nature and structure of the human mind is called psycholinguistics” ( Scovel , 1998).

4. …………………………….………Continued It investigates the interrelation of language and mind in processing and producing utterances and in language acqu i s i t i on ( H a r t l ey, 198 2 ) . It deals directly with the processes of encoding and de c od ing a s they relate states of mess a ge to states of com m un i c a tors ( O s good an d Sebeok , 19 8 3) It is the study of language acquisition and linguistic behavior , as well as the psychological mechanism responsible for them ( Langaker, 1973 )

5. ……………………………………….Continued It is the study of language behavior: How real (rather than ideal) people learn and use language to communicate ideas. It asks questions such as: How is language produced, perceived, comprehended, and remembered? How is it used for different communicative purposes? How is it acquired? How does it go wrong? How is it represented in the mind?

6. Based on th e definitions , her e ar e some v iews on psycholinguistics: P s y c ho l in g ui s tic s dea l s with la n guag e an d m i nd Psycholinguistics is directly related to the process of encoding and decoding of the code (language) Ps y cho l ingu i st i c s i s a n app r oach Psycholinguistics investigates language, language use, and language change Psycholinguistics discusses processes which are going on in the speaker and hearer’s minds Psycholinguistics focuses in the discussion of language acquisition and linguistic behaviour

7. 1 1 /1 /2 14 Sub-disciplines within Psycholinguistics Theoretical psycholinguistics  L anguage theories related to human mental processes in using language (phonological, diction, syntax, discourse , and intonation arrangement) Developmental psycholinguistics  T he process of language acquisition (both L1 & L2) Social psycholinguistics  T he social aspects of language are that language is a string of thoughts and insights

8. Educational psycholinguistics  T he educational aspects in formal education: the role of language in the teaching of reading, language proficiency Experimental psycholinguistics  T he act and effect of using language Applied psycholinguistics  T he application of all above subfields into other subjects Cont.

9. S c ope how language is acquired and produced by users how brain works on language language acquisition the difference between children language acquisition and language learning linguistic interference language development the role of motivation in foreign language learning

10. Neuro Linguistics VS Psycholinguistics Psycholinguistics is the study of mental faculties involved in the perception, production, and acquisition of a language. Neurolinguistics studies the relationship between the human nervous system and language. The study mainly focuses on the correspondence between the disorders of the language and the nervous system. Psycholinguistics is the study of how language affects the human mind. On the contrary, neurolinguistics is the study of what happens with the language in the human brain.

11. Methods Psycholinguists use behavioral experiments, reaction time measurements, eye-tracking, and other experimental techniques to investigate language-related cognitive processes. They analyze linguistic performance and study how people process language in controlled experimental settings. Neurolinguists use neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), EEG (electroencephalography), and lesion studies to examine brain activity during language tasks. They analyze brain scans to identify language-related regions and their connectivity.

12. Questions Psycholinguistics seeks to answer questions like: How do people understand ambiguous sentences? What cognitive processes are involved in reading and comprehending text? How do children acquire language? What factors influence language production and choice of words during conversation?

13. …………………………………..Cont. Neurolinguistics seeks to answer questions like: What areas of the brain are responsible for language processing? How does language processing change after brain injuries or strokes? Can we identify neural signatures of specific language disorders?

14. Interdisciplinary Disciplines Psycholinguistics is often considered an interdisciplinary field, drawing from linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, and experimental research methods. Neurolinguistics is also an interdisciplinary field, bridging linguistics, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. It relies on neuroscientific methods to explore language in the brain.

15. Conclusion B oth psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics are concerned with the study of language and cognition, they differ in their primary focus and methodologies. Psycholinguistics examines language-related cognitive processes using behavioral experiments, while neurolinguistics investigates the neural underpinnings of language using neuroimaging and neurological techniques. These fields complement each other, with psycholinguistics providing insights into the cognitive aspects of language and neurolinguistics shedding light on its neurological basis.