An introduction to psycholinguistics心理语言学入门

An introduction to psycholinguistics心理语言学入门

Anintroduction1AnintroductiontopsycholinguisticsHojatjodaieTheUniversityofGuilanDr.BarekatJune2011\nAnintroduction2AbstractThispaperiswrittentohaveapreliminaryintroductionaboutpsycholinguistics.Psycholinguisticsorpsychologyoflanguageisthestudyoftheinterrelationbetweenlinguisticfactorsandpsychologicalaspects.Themainsubjectofresearchinpsycholinguisticsisthestudyofcognitiveprocessesthatunderliethecomprehensionandproductionoflanguage,andthewaytheculturalenvironmentinteractwiththesetwo(Harely,2005,p.13).ThefieldofpsycholinguisticshasbeendefinedbyreactiontoChomsky‟ssupportersandopponents.InthispaperaselectivereviewofsomerecentillustrativepsycholinguisticsresearchonL2acquisitionwillbeprovided.Inpsycholinguisticsresearcherstrytodevelopmodelstodescribeandpredictspecificlinguisticbehavior.Sincethelinguisticrevolutionofthemid-1960thefieldhasbroodedtoencompassawiderangeoftopicsanddisciplines.Psycholinguisticsisinterdisciplinaryandisstudiedindifferentfieldssuchaspsychology,cognitivescienceandlinguistics.Hereafterabriefintroductiontopsycholinguistics,howpsycho-linguisticsillustrateslanguagecomprehensionfromwordstotextswillbeexplained.\nAnintroduction3Keywords:psycholinguistics,psychology,language,comprehension,acquisition,processIntroductionPsycholinguisticsthatmeanspsychologyoflanguageisthestudyofthepsycho-logicalandneurologicalfactorsthatenablehumanstoacquire,use,comprehendandproducelanguage(“Altman”,2001,p.1).Duemainlytoalackofcohesivedataonhowthehumanbrainfunctioned,modernresearchmakesuseofbiology(naturalscienceconcernedwiththestudyoflifeandlivingorganism),neuroscience(thescientificstudyofhowinformationconcerningfacultiessuchasperception,language,reasoning,andemotionisrepresentedandtransformedinahumanorotheranimalnervoussystemormachinery,linguisticsandinformationtheory(abranchofappliedmathematicsandelectricalengineeringinvolvingthequantificationofinformation.tostudyhowbrainprocesseslanguagethereareanumberofsub-disciplineswithnon-invasivetechniquesforstudyingtheneurologicalworkingsofthebrain,forexampleneurolinguisticshasbecomeafieldinitsownright.Psycholinguisticscoversthecognitiveprocessesthatmakeitpossibletogenerategrammaticalandmeaningfulsentencesoutofvocabularyandgrammaticalstructureaswellastheprocessesthatmakeitpossibletounderstandutterances,words,texts,etc.(Miller&Emas,1983).Psycholinguisticsconcernswiththestudyofthecognitiveprocessthatsupportstheacquisitionanduseoflanguage.Thescopeofpsycholinguisticsincludeslanguageperformanceundernormalcircumstancesandwhenitbreaksdown.Forexample,followingbraindamage.\nAnintroduction4Historicallythefocusofmostpsycholinguistshasbeenonfirstlanguage(L1),acquisitionoffirstlanguageinchildrenandinresearchonadultcomprehensionandproduction(Schmitt,2002,p.133-140).Thefindingsandconceptsofpsycholinguisticsisusedandstudiedbypeopleinavarietyoffields.Suchaspsychology,cognitivesciencelinguistics,andneroulinguistic.Thereareseveralsubdivisionswithinpsycholinguisticsthatarebasedonthecomponentsthatmakeupthelanguage.Linguisticrelatedareas:Phoneticsandphonologyareconcernedwiththestudyofspeechsoundswithinpsycholinguistics,researchfocusisonhowthebrainprocessandunderstandthatsounds.-Morphologyisthestudyofwordstructureespeciallytherelationshipbetweenrelatedwords(suchasdoganddogs)andtheformationofwordsbasedonrules(suchaspluralformation).-Syntaxisthestudyofthepatternswhichdictatehowwordsarecombinedtoformsentences.-Semanticsdealwiththemeaningofwordsandsentenceswheresyntaxisconcernedwiththeformalstructureofsentences.-Pragmaticsisconcernedwiththeroleofcontextintheinterpretationofthemeaning.Psychologyrelatedareas:Thestudyofwordrecognitionandreadingexaminestheprocessesinvolvedintheextractionoforthographic,morphological,phonologicalandsemanticinformationfrompatternsinprintedtexts.\nAnintroduction5-developmentalpsycholinguisticsstudiesinfantsandchildren‟sabilitytolearnandprocesslanguage,usuallywithexperimentaloratleastquantitivemethods(asopposedtonaturalisticobservationssuchasthosemadebyJeanPiaget,inhisresearchonthedevelopmentofchildren).Reviewofliterature:ThefieldofpsycholinguisticshasbeendevelopedandredefinedbyreactiontoChomsky.Chomsky‟sviewaboutcreatingsyntacticsentenceswasthatlanguageexistsbecausehumanpossessaninnateabilityandwashighlycriticalofskinnersbookin1959inthepagesofthejournallanguage.Thatreviewstartedwhathasbeentermedthecognitiverevolutioninpsychology.ThereviewofChomskystillholdsthatthehumanabilitytousesyntaxisqualitativelydifferentfromanysortofanimalcommunication;thisabilitymayhaveresultedfromafavorablemutationorfromanadaptationofskillsevolvedforotherpurposes(Anderson,1998).Oneofthesupportersofthisviewisthatthetheorythatlanguageservesgroupneeds.Betterlinguisticexpressionsmayhaveproducedmorecohesion,cooperation,andpotentialforsurvival.Theconviewstillholdsthatthatlanguage–includingsyntax–isanoutgrowthofhundredsofthousandsofyearsofincreasingintelligenceandtensofthousandsofyearsofhumaninteraction.ContemporarytheoriesbesidesChomsky,workinginthefieldoftheoriesofpsycholinguisticsincludesGeorgeLackoffandStevenPinker.Morerecently,psycholinguistshaverecognizedtheimportanceofextendingthestudyoflanguageprocessingtoindividualswhoareacquiringoractivelyusingmorethanonelanguage.Inthispaperthetermbilingualsisusedtorefertosuchindividuals,eventhoughtheir\nAnintroduction6additionallanguagesmaynotbeasstrongastheirfirstlanguage.Becausebilingualsoutnumbermonolingualsintheworld‟spopulation,bilingualsmorethanmonolingualsprovideageniallyuniversalaccountofthecognitivemechanismsthatunderlinelanguageperformance(Schmitt,2002,p.133-149).Furthermoretheuseoftwoormorelanguagesprovideapowerfultoolforinvestigatingissuesofcognitiverepresentationandprocessingthatareotherwisehiddenfromview.Specificquestionswithrespecttobilingualsare:IsL2acquisitiondifferentfromL1acquisition?TowhatextentdoestheL1playaroleinusingtheL2?Arethererulesgoverningcode-switching(theuseofMorethanonelanguageinanutterance?Howdospeakersofmorethanonelanguagekeepthetwolanguagesapart?HowarelanguagesacquiredatsomepointintimeLostormaintainedovertime?(Schmitt,2002,p.133-149)AimandpurposeofthestudyInthispaperaselectivereviewofsomerecentillustrativepsycholinguisticresearchonL2acquisitionandcompetentbilingualperformancewillbeprovided.ThisworkaccordingtoSchmitt(2002)isframedbyanimportantsetofassumptionaboutlanguageandcognition(p.133-137).Firstitisassumedthatthecognitiveprocessthatarerevealedasindividualsacquireproficiencyinasecondlanguageshareacommonbaseswiththeprocessthatareinplaceforcompetentbilinguals.Here,firstofallthebasicassumptionisthatL2learnersandproficientbilingualrelayonsimilarcognitivemechanismsthataregenerallyuniversalacrosslanguages,althoughtherelative\nAnintroduction7importanceofsomefactorsmaydifferdependingonthestructuralpropertiesofthelanguageinvolved.ForexamplewheretheL2sharesthesamealphabetwiththeL1canhaveprofoundconsequencesforthenatureofcrosslanguageinteractions.YetweassumethatfundamentallythesamecognitiveresourcesareusedwhenanativePersianspeakerlearnsEnglishoranativeEnglishspeakerlearnsPersian.ThirdlyitisassumedthesamecognitiverecoursesareuniversallyavailabletoalllearnersalthoughindividualswilldifferinsomerespectsthatthatmayhavespecificimplicationsforsuccessinL2learning.Forexamplethedegreetowhichindividualscandevotememoryandintentionalresourcestoprocessingandstorage,mayplayanimportantroleintheirabilitytodevelopautomaticityintheL2,toresolveambiguitiesduringsentencecomprehensionandtoinhibittheL1whenrequiredtodoso.Thisstudyisoutlinedasfollows.Firstwefocusonthewayinwhichpsycholinguisticsconstructcognitivemodelstocharacterizetorepresentationsandprocessthatunderlinelanguageperformance.Duetothefactthatourreviewwillbenecessarilybrief,ourillustrationisrestrictedtoamodeloflanguageproductionthathasbeenextendedtobilingualspeaker.Themodelcapturesmanyofthecoreproblemsthatneedtoberesolvedwhenspeakershavemorethanonelanguageavailable.Themodelmayalsobeusedthewayinwhichpsycholinguisticsformulatehypothesesandconductexperimentstotesttheoreticallybasedpredictions.Secondwewillillustratethecontributionofpsycholinguisticsresearchbyconsideringasetofselectedquestionsthathavebeenthefocusofempiricalselectivenatureoflexicalinwordrecognitionandthedevelopmentoflexicalproficiencyinsecondlanguageandaspectsoflanguageretentionandattrition.Oneofourpurposes\nAnintroduction8inthispaperistoilluminatethegenerallogicandmethodofpsychologicalapproachestoresearch.Significanceofthestudyingofpsycholinguisticinpsycholinguisticsresearcherstrytodevelopmodelstodescribeandpreferablypredictspecificlinguisticbehavior(Gernsbacher,1994,p.75).Thesignificanceisthatitcapturesallaspectsoflanguageuse.Ultimatelypsycholinguisticstriestohaveamodelthatdescribeshowlanguageisprocessedinourbrain.Theothersignificanceofstudyingofpsycholinguisticsisthatituncoversuniversalprocessesthatgovernsthedevelopment,use,andbreakdownsoflanguage(Bateset.al,1995,p.96).HowevertotheextentthatresearchinagivensubfieldofpsycholinguisticsisdominatedbyEnglish,wecannotdistinguishbetweenuniversalmechanismsandEnglish-specificfacts.Psycholinguisticspresentaresearchonlanguagedevelopmentinchildren,languagesymptomsinbraininjuredadults,andlanguageprocessinginnormaladults,inanorderthatreflectstheimpactthatcrosslanguagevariationshavehadontheoreticalframeworkwithineachfield(Duffy,etall.,1998).Researchquestions:inthisresearchthefollowingquestionswillbeanswered:Whatispsycholinguistics?Whoispsycholinguist?Whatisthemainfocusofpsycholinguistics?\nAnintroduction9Whatispsycholinguistics?Theearliestuseoftheterm„psycholinguistics‟wasinJ.RKantorObjectivePsychologyofGrammar(1936),inwhichKantorasanardentbehavioristattendedtorefusetheideathatllanguagereflectedanyformofintendedcognitionormind.AccordingtoKantortheGermanpsycholinguiststraditionwassimplywrong.Thetermmorefirmlyestablishedwiththepublicationin1954ofareportofaworkinggroupontherelationshipbetweenlinguisticandpsychologyentitledpsycholinguistics.Thereportswaspublishedsimultaneouslyintwojournals,thatseparatelyservedthelinguisticsandpsychologydiscipline.Almost50yearson,researchintothemanydifferentaspectsofthepsychologyoflanguageispublishedinavastrangeofjournals,andaccountforaround10percentofallpublicationsinpsychology.AccordingtotheWikipedia-worldwidewebfreeencyclopediaPsycholinguisticsisthebranchofcognitivepsychologythatstudiesthepsychologicalbasisoflinguisticcompetenceandperformance.Psycholinguisticsstudiesthepsychologicalandneurologicalfactorsthatenablehumantoacquire,useandunderstandlanguage.Psycholinguisticsmainlyconcernwiththeuseofpsychological/scientific/experimentalmethodstostudylanguageacquisition,productionandprocessing.Insummarywecandefinepsycholinguisticsasascientificstudyofmentalprocessesandelementsemployedinlanguage.Psycholinguisticsistheempiricalandtheoreticalstudyofthementalfaculty.Sincethelinguisticrevolutionofthemid-1960sthefieldhasdevelopedtoencompassawiderangeoftopicsanddisciplines.Psycholinguisticsstarted(asdidtherestofpsychology)intheearlytomid1960s.TheChomskianrevolution(e.g.Chomsky,1957,1965,and1968)promotedlanguage\nAnintroduction10andspecificallyitsstructure,asobeyinglawsandprinciplesinmuchthesamewayassaychemicalstructuresdo.ThephilosopherBorlandRussell(1959)wassensitivetothisemerginglegacywhenhewrote:Thelinguisticphilosophywhichwasonlyaboutlanguage,andnotabouttheworld,istheboywhopreferredtheclockwithoutthependulumbecausealthoughitnolongertoldthetime,itwentmoreeasilythanbeforeandatamoreexhilaratingpace.SubsequentlypsycholinguisticresearchhasnonethelessrecognizedtheinseparabilityofLanguagefromitsunderlyingmentalmachineryandexternalworld.Whoispsycholinguist?Apsycholinguistisasocialscientistwhostudiespsycholinguistics.Themaininterestofapsycholinguistislanguagedevelopment;languageuseandlanguagebreakdown.perception,attention,motorplanningandmemory,thatisCriticalforlanguagebutarenotuniquetolanguageistheotherareasofpsycholinguisticinterest.Morespecificallyapsycholinguiststudieslanguage,speechproductionandcomprehension,usingbehavioralandneurologicalmethodswhichtraditionallyaredevelopedinthefieldofpsychologythoughothermethodssuchascorpusanalysisarealsowidelyused.Duetoitsinterdisciplinarynaturepsycholinguistics,canbefoundinlinguistics,psychology,cognitivescience,communicationscience,communicationdisordersandotherdepartments.Themainofpurposeofpsycholinguisticsistooutlineanddescribetheprocessofproducingandcomprehendingcommunication(“Thelanguage”,2001,p.148).Inthetraditionofpsychology,variousmodelsareusedtofurtherthisunderstanding.\nAnintroduction11…...Psycholinguisticcurrentlyrepresentsawidelydiversefield.Manyandarealsoconsideredtobelinguists,nerolinguists,cognitivelinguistsneurocognitivistpsycholinguistics.Therearesubtledifferencesbetweenthesetitles,thoughtheyareallattemptingtousedifferentfacetsofsimilarissues.Whatarethemaininterestsofpsycholinguistics?…..Interestinpsycholinguisticsisnotconfinedtopsychologyandlinguistics.Manyhavebeenstimulatedbyitspracticalpossibilities.Onethinksofmedicalapplicationstothediagnosisandtreatmentofaheterogeneousvarietyoflanguagedisordersrangingfromasimplestammeringtotheoverwhelmingcomplexitiesofaphasia.Onethinkstooofpedagogicalapplicationsofpotentialimprovementinourmethodsforteachingreadingandwritingofsecondlanguage.…..Ifpsycholinguisticprinciplesweremadesufficientlyexplicit,theycouldbeappliedtothosetechnicalconceptsofthetwentiethcentury.InGeorgeAMillerviewthecentraltaskofpsycholinguisticsistodescribethepsychologicalprocessesthatgoonwhenpeopleusesentences(Field,2006,p-93).…..Aswementionedpsycholinguisticsisinterdisciplinary.Harely(2005)statesthatthemainobjectofresearchinpsycholinguisticsistheStudyofthecognitiveprocessthatunderliesthecomprehensionandproductionoflanguageandthewayculturalenvironmentinteractswiththesetwo.Moredetailedsubsectionsofpsycholinguisticsdescribesthelanguageabilitiesofinfantsastheyacquiredtheirfirstwordsanddeveloptheirfirstgrammaticalskills(Mhler,1990,p.143-187),therepresentationandaccessofwords(spokenandwritten)inthementallexicon,therepresentationandprocessimplicatedinsentenceprocessinganddiscoursecomprehension,andfinallythe\nAnintroduction12mannerinwhichaswespeakwordsandsentences.Psycholinguisticsisasmuchaboutthestudyofthehumanminditselfasitisaboutthestudyofmindsabilitytocommunicateandcomprehend(Altmann,2001,p.129-135).Thefulldepth,richness,andscopeofpsycholinguisticsgofarbeyondthelimitsaffordedhere.Earlydaysofpsycholinguisticsmovetoaselectionofcurrenttopics,beginningwiththelanguageabilitiesofnewborninfants,andmovingonfromhowinfantsrepresentthespeechtheyhereto,howtheyacquirefirstvocabularyandhowlater,asadults,theyrepresentandaccesswordsinthementallexicon(bothspokenandwritten).Psycholinguisticsalsoattendstotheacquisitionofgrammaticalskillsinchildrenandtheprocessingofsentencesbyadultstotextanddiscourseunderstanding.WilhelmWundt(1832-1920)notedinDieSprache(1900)psycholinguisticsisasmuchaboutthemindasitisaboutthelanguage.\nAnintroduction13Conclusion:Theaimofthispaperwastohaveanintroductoryexplanationtopsycholinguistics.Alsotoprovideabriefanswertothequestionslike:whatispsycholinguistics?,whoispsycholinguist?Andwhatisthemaininterestofpsycholinguistics?Duetothefactthatpsycholinguisticsisaninterdisciplinaryfield,nowadaysitisthefocusofresearcherswhostudytheinterrelationbetweenmindandlanguage.Theexplanationoftheprocessofcomprehensionfromapsycholinguisticperspectivefromawordtoatextisanotherareaofinterestofpsycholinguiststhatbecauseofourlimitation,wecannotaffordithereTherearepsycholinguisticrelatedfactorsthataffectcomprehension.Thisfactorsrelatedtoindividualdifferencesandbecauseofthementionedreasonwedidn‟texplaintheminthispaper,andithasbeenlefttobestudiedbyotherresearchers.\nAnintroduction14ReferencesAltmannT.M.Gerry(2001),PsycholinguisticsinreviewBritishJournalofPsychology129–170printedinGreatBritaintheBritishPsychologicalSociety.Bates,E.,Dale,P.S,&Thai,D(1995).Individualdifferencesandtheirimplicationsfortheoriesoflanguagedevelopment.InFletcher&B.MacWhinney,Handbookofchildlanguage(p.96-115)Oxford:BasilBlackwell.Field,John,2006:Psycholinguistics,NewYork,RutledgeEnglishLanguage………IntroductionsGernbacher,M.A.(ED.)(1994).Handbookofpsycholinguistics,………Sandiago,CA:academicpressHarley,T.(2005):ThePsychologyofLanguage.FromDatatoTheory,NewYork,………PsychologypressTranslation"vol.52,p.13-21.Hatzidaki,A.2007,TheProcessofComprehensionfromaPsycholinguisticApproach……….Translatorjournal,vol.52,p.13-21.HombyA.S(2002)OxfordAdvancedLearnersDictionaryofcurrentEnglish.Mehler,J.,Jusczyk,P.W.,Lambertz,G.,Halsted.,Bertoncini,.J.,,andAmiel-Tison,C.(1988).precursoroflanguageacquisitioninyounginfant‟s.Cognition,29,143-17ASchmittNorbert,2002:AnIntroductionToAppliedLinguistics,GreatBritain,Oxford……….UniversitypressPp;133-150