Abstract The paper provides a definition of psycholinguistics and describes the first steps taken in its development and the significant discoveries made in subsequent stages until today. The paper explains that psycholinguistics examines the psychology of language and concerns the study of the psychological processes involved in language acquisition. The paper concludes that it is reasonable to assert that the existing body of knowledge concerning psycholinguistics will continue to grow in the future.
Outline:
Introduction
Review and Discussion
Conclusion
From the Paper "Although different sources credit different researchers with its development, all signs point to Noam Chomsky as one of the early proponents of psycholinguistics as it is applied today. In his book, The Psychology of Language: From Data to Theory, Harley (2001), reports that the history of psycholinguistics is a relatively recent one. "Although it is often traced to a conference held in . . . 1951, the approach was certainly used before then. . . . If we place the infancy of modern psycholinguistics sometime around the American linguist Noam Chomsky's (1959) review of Skinner's book Verbal Behavior, its adolescence would correspond to the period in the early and mid-1960s when psycholinguists tried to relate language processing to transformational grammar" (12)."
Abstract The paper explores the mental aspects of language acquisition, storage, production and comprehension. It begins with a definition of ?psycholinguistics? and a clarification of terms. The paper then outlines the history of this field of study, looking at some of the personalities that influenced its development. Chomsky's language acquisition theory is explained, other divergent theories are mentioned, and commonalities between the theories are discussed. The paper lists and explains the four main aspects of language acquisition and discusses the "critical period" in childhood for learning a language. The paper concludes by discussing the psycholinguistics? relationship to reading and to writing.
From the Paper "Psycholinguistics gives a comprehensive and viable understanding of human language development. The most famous psycholinguist theorist, Noam Chomsky, has argued convincingly that human children develop language abilities according to a predetermined universal deep structure or grammar. The psycholinguistic approach provides invaluable tools for teaching children to read, write, and speak."
Tags: mental, Chomsky, theory, commonality, critical, period
Abstract This paper provides a detailed evaluation of Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar and innate Language Acquisition Device, which is central to the field of linguistics and psycholinguistics. It reviews the controversies surrounding Chomsky's theory and discusses alternative theories.
From the Paper "Language acquisition is undeniably biologically programmed as children all over the world, from varying cultures and linguistic environments produce the same levels of language at the same stages. Chomsky proposes that this is a direct result of Universal Grammar, which is an inherent part of every human mind. However, his theory of an innate Language Acquisition Device provokes controversy on two grounds. First is the debate between nature and nurture, with many theorists criticising Chomsky for dismissing any environmental factors. Second, is the dispute as to whether language acquisition is an independent innate faculty as Chomsky claims, or part of the child's wider cognitive development. Such disagreements demonstrate the enormous impact Chomsky's theory has had on the field of linguistics and reflects how ?the Universal Grammar theory is for many the central pillar in our understanding of language.? (Cook, V. Inside Language. Arnold. 1997, p249)"
Abstract Second Language Acquisition is a field of inquiry that abounds in theories, while at the same time no single approach has adequately explained how language acquisition takes place. One reason for this might be that linguists interested in SLA have been trained in different disciplines, such as linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and neurolinguistics. The paper explains that, naturally, they have approached SLA from very different perspectives and treat all the variables involved in the learning process differently. The situation appears to be very confusing and frustrating. All the present theories, hypotheses, and models are all preliminary work done toward the ultimate goal of a true theory. The paper shows that in this sense, the different approaches taken by linguists and researchers are never worthless. They have uncovered bits and pieces of the whole complexity of language acquisition. Hopefully, the continuing and combined efforts made by linguists and researchers will lead to the ultimate success of establishing the true theory in language acquisition as well as in SLA.
From the Paper "Linguistics is one of the newest fields of scientific inquiry. It was developed into an independent discipline of social science in the United Sates first "as an offshoot of anthropology" in the first half of the twentieth century in an attempt to investigate into the disappearing American indigenous languages (Lakoff, 2000, p. 2-3). Traditionally, it has been concerned with the analysis of language, namely its phonology, morphology and syntax. Following this tradition, Norm Chomsky in the 1950s put forward his milestone transformational generative grammar (TGG), which assumed "an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-community" unaffected by any external factors in his exploration of the Universal Grammar (UG), the general rules of language (Chomsky, 1965, p.3). This is basically an asocial or theoretical view in linguistic studies as opposed to the social view which claims knowing a language also means "knowing how to use that language"(Wardhaugh, 2002, p.3) in social contexts. Adopting either or both of the two views, linguistics and researchers alike have postulated a multitude of theories, approaches, and models in the inquiry into the nature of language and language acquisition, which appear to be conflicting ones fighting against one another."
Abstract This paper presents an overview of studies on language acquisition and the relevance of critical periods of learning. The paper reports on studies done on the brain and actual learning situations, which have shed light on this topic and the implications of these studies.
From the Paper "The most concentrated period of language development is during the first three years of a human's life when the brain is developing and maturing. The first stages of communication take place right after birth when an infant learns that a cry will bring responses such as nourishment. The newborns also start recognizing essential sounds in their immediate environments such as their parent's voice. As they become older, children begin to learn the structure of their language. By six months of age, most recognize the basic sounds of their native language and are able to make simple repetitive sounds or phonemes such as "ma ma" or ?ba ba.? By the age of two, they can form short sentences and recognize symbols such as pictures in a book. By three or four, they can clearly make themselves understood, understand concepts that are near them or out of sight, and even read a letter or two or short words (ibid)."
This paper is an extensive discussion of pedagogic grammar, written and spoken discourse for English language, as applied to ESL English language learning.
Abstract This paper explains that pedagogic grammar is grammar that provides useful descriptions of language forms and their function for pedagogical purposes, which can be organized and sequenced in textbook form to provide systematic teaching and learning as a descriptive and explanatory complement to other language learning activities. The author points out that implications drawn from learner-centered grammar instruction are that these extensive grammar rules and explanations should be presented in such a manner as to approximate the learner's hypothesis-formative process as far as possible. The paper concludes that the deformalization of pedagogical grammars may be through the avoidance of the jargon or keeping this jargon to a minimum to avoid elaborate or complicated analyses.
Table of Contents
Objective
Introduction
Psycholinguistics - Theoretical Framework
Descriptive - Prescriptive Grammar
Pedagogic Grammar
Communicative Competence in English-Language/Grammar
Linguistic
Two Cognitive Principles
Form-based: The Structuralist Theory
Form Selection
Concepts and Factors for Consideration in Analysis
Setting
Ends: Transnational, Interactional and Performative
Speech Events: Speech, Discourse or Speech
Learner-Centered Grammar Instruction Facts
Purpose of Analysis
Implications and Conclusion
From the Paper "Pedagogical grammar within the English language is based historically on over 400 years of grammar the first of these being in 1580 by William Bullokar followed by the work of John Wallis in 1653 who studied English grammar not on the basis of the models in Latin grammar but within its own frame of reference. Due to the fact that most of the grammar was based on the Latin models there existed a heavy influence in the view of the expert in relation to the English language in the nature of and the terms for the descriptions."
