An Introduction to Psycholinguistics

This book is a thorough introduction to psycholinguistics, and shows how the area relates to psychology, linguistics, philosophy and education. It focuses on how young children acquire language and demonstrates how sign language helps us to gain a deeper understanding of the acquisition process. It also explores more complex and challenging topics such as mental grammar and sentence processing, the relationship of language to thought and culture to the brain. Other topics include second language acquisition processes, teaching methods and the cognitive impact of bilingualism.

Learning about language

General Editors: Geoffrey Leech and Mick Short

 

An Introduction to Psycholinguistics examines the psychology of language as it relates to learning, mind and brain as well as to aspects of society and culture. How do we learn to speak and to understand speech? Is language unique to humans? Does language influence culture?

 

Using non-technical language, and providing concrete examples, the authors explore:

 

• How children learn to speak and read their native language
• Deaf language education
• Case studies of wild children and animals and what we can learn from these
• Second language acquisition, second language teaching methods, and the problems associated with bilingualism
• Language and the brain
• The relationship between thought and language

 

In this new edition the authors propose a radical new theory of grammar ¿ natural grammar ¿ which unlike other theories can account for both speech comprehension and speech production.

Also taking into account the extensive growth in theory, research and practice, this new edition is an accessible and focused introduction to the key issues and the latest research in the field of psycholinguistics.

 

 

Danny D. Steinberg is Professor Emeritus of Surugadai University and has previously taught at University of Hawaii and Rikkyo University. He is author of a number of books on semantic theory and psycholinguistics including,Semantics: An Interdisciplinary Reader in Philosophy, Linguistics and Psychology (with L. Jakobovits; 1971) and Psycholinguistics: Language, Mind and World (with H Nagata and D. Aline; 2nd edition, 2000).

 

Natalia V. Sciarini is an independent researcher, writer and translator, and works at the Research Services and Collections Department at Yale University. She was previously a lecturer of Introductory Linguistics and the Theory and Practice of Translation at Ulyanovsk State University.