jhhsu                        Psycholinguistics                         2004

Objectives:  This is an introductory course to Psycholinguistics.  Its objectives are:

[1]        Students will be able to state the nature and scope of psycholinguistics after examining the five typical questions. (1) How can we describe the knowledge of the language that we can speak? (2) How do we perceive, comprehend, store, recall, and produce language? (3) How do we acquire the knowledge of language and the ability to use it? (4) How do we learn and use language to communicate ideas? (5) Do we share this ability to acquire and use language with other animals?

[2]        Students will be able to design and conduct a psycholinguistic research after exploring the basic psycholinguistic constructs, approaches and methods.

Class Procedures: 

        You are expected to do assigned readings as preparation for class discussion.  There will be lectures, and you will present reports in class. Your course grade will be based on your class participation, term paper and final examination.

Course Syllabus

[1]        Orientation:        (1) The nature and scope of psycholinguistics

                                         (2) A brief history of psycholinguistics

[2]        Why are psychologists interested in grammar? Implications of linguistic theories for psychological processes of language comprehension and production.

        *Slobin: Chapter one (#1) pp.1-27

        *Carroll: Chapter 2, skip section on sign language.

        *Steinberg. "Semantic based grammar" pp.48-58

        Steinberg. "Chomsky's syntactic based grammar"

        Strohner & Brose. "A cognitive systems approach to linguistic knowledge." 

              Language Science, Vol 14, No. 1/2, 1992.

         Steinberg. "Grammar, speaker performance, and psychological reality"

        Fromkin, V. "The sentence patterns of language," (#3)

[3]        Psycholinguistic studies of sentence processing: perception and comprehension; some experimental demonstrations of the role of syntax in understanding speech; and linguistic approaches to the meanings and functions of sentence

.

        *Carroll: Chapter 3, read up to Development of the processing system.

        *Gleason-Ratner: “Speech perception beyond a single segment,” pp. 129-147

        *Gleason-Ratner: “Words and meaning I,” pp. 159-181

        *Gleason-Ratner: “Words and meaning II,” 181-208

        Carroll. Chapter 4, skip section on written language.

        Carroll. Chapter 5: The internal lexicon.

        Taylor. Chapter 5. Sentence: comprehension and memory, pp. 117-143

        Slobin: Chapter 2, pp. 33-43 (#5)

        Slobin: "Psycholinguistic constraints on the form of grammar"

[4]        Psycholinguistic studies of sentence and text processing (I): comprehension and memory; processing models for speech comprehension and the nature of recoding in memory.

        *Clark: "Syntactic and semantic approaches to the construction process," (#6)

        *Sachs, J.S. "Recognition memory for syntactic and semantic aspects of connected discourse."

                (#11)

        *Foss & Hakes: "Memory and Comprehension," pp. 133-155 (#10)

        *Taylor: chapter 3. (Discourse) Comprehension and memory, pp. 53-75

        Denhiere-Dubois. "Recent issues in semantics," ijp 78/5-2

        Clark & Clark: "Memory for substance," pp. 153-173 (#9)

[5]        How is knowledge stored? How is information encoded or recalled? How do computers understand sentences and stories? How is language processed with computers?

        *Schank & Abelson, "Scripts, Plans, and Knowledge" (#13)

        *Mandler-Johnson, "Remembrance of Things Parsed: Story Structure and  Recall," 

               Cognitive Psychology 9, 1977, pp. 111-135, 148-150. (#14)

        Chafe, "The recall and verbalization of past experience." Current issues in linguistic theory. 

        Chafe, "The flow of thought and the flow of language." Discourse and syntax.

         Winegrad, T. "Artificial intelligence: when will computers understand people?"        

                Psychology Today, 1974, 7(12), 73-79 (#12)

        Kintsch-Kintsch, "The role of schemata in text comprehension," ijp 78/5

        Allan Paivio. "Imagery, language, and semantic theory." ijp 78/5-2 [10]

[6]        Psycholinguistic studies of sentence processing (II): production of speech. How do we map out abstract thoughts onto a string of perceptible sounds?

         *Clark & Clark, "Plans for What to Say," in Psychology and Language. (#8)

        *Gleason & Ratner, “Speech production: issues,” pp. 312-327, in Psycholinguistics.

        *Gleason & Ratner, “Speech production: models,” pp.327-338, in Psycholinguistics.

        *O’Grady, Chapter 17, “Computational Linguistics,” pp. 663-698

        Taylor, "Sentence: basic syntax and production," pp. 98-115.

        Carroll, Chapter 8, skip section on sign language.

        Foss & Hakes, "Sentence production," pp. 172-201 (#7)

[7]        Biological foundations of language: anatomical special­iza­tions of the human speech apparatus; brain specialization for language; evidence from aphasia, dichotic listening, and split-brain studies. 

          *Taylor. "Language and brain"

          *Curtis, et al. "The linguistic development of Genie." (#25)

          *Tzeng, et al. "Processing Chinese logographs by Chinese brain damaged patients,"

                   in Graphonomics. pp. 357-374

           Slobin: "Biological foundations of language" (#24)

[8]       What does the child mean to say? Language before grammar: one-word utterances and their relation to sensory-motor intelligence. The growth of grammar. The emergence of grammar and the strategies for grammatical development. Development from surface (pivot) to "rich semantic" descriptions of early utterances. The development of inflections and word order, and so on.

           *Clark & Clark: "How young children use their utterances," 312-320 (#18)

           +Taylor. "Phonological development," pp. 240-250

           *Taylor. "Syntactic development," pp. 290-325

           *Slobin: "Language development in the child," pp. 83-100 (#17)

           *Taylor. "Semantic and discourse skills," pp. 260-282

           *Carroll. Chapter 12

           *Gleason. “Theories of child language acquisition,” pp. 375-393

           Slobin: "Language development in the child," pp. 74-83 (#17)

           Bowerman: "Semantic factors" pp. 136-165 (#20)

Bowerman, M. "Semantic factors in the acquisition of rules for word use and sentence construction," pp. 99-136 (#20)

   Slobin. "Cognitive pre-requisites for the development of grammar." (#21)

Bates et al. "The acquisition of performatives prior to speech," Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1975, 21, 205-226 (#19)

Stark et al. "Vocal communication in the first 18 months of life." Journal of Speech and Hearing Research. Vol 36, 548-558, June 1993

[9]        Can chimpanzees learn human language? A detailed examination of the nature of language and its acquisition in the light of three different kinds of attempts to train chimpanzees to use a symbolic system for communication with human beings.

*Patterson, F. "Conversations with a Gorilla." National Geograph­ic, Vol. 15 No. 4, October 1978, pp. 438-465 (#37)

*Gardner: "Comparing the early utterances of child and chimpanzee." (#26)

*Premack: "Teaching Sarah to read," Why chimps can read. (#27)

Rumbaugh & Gill: "The mastery of language-type skills by the chimpanzee."  Annals of the N.Y. Academy of Sciences, '76, 280, 562-578 (#28)

[10]      Relations between language and thought. The role of verbal coding in memory; The Whorfian hypothesis of linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism from the current perspective of psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology; and the effects of literacy on thought and language use.

        *Slobin: chapter 6, "Language and cognition" (#29)

        *Steinberg: chapter 6: language and thought

        *Rosch: "Linguistic relativity." Human communication: Theoretical explorations. pp. 95-121

                 (#31)

         Cook-Gumperz: “From oral to written culture: the transition to literacy” (#32)

        Carston, Robyn. "Language and cognition," in Language: psychological and biological aspects.

Optional

[11]      Experimental study of complex syntax and semantics in children:

        Hsu, J. A study of the development and acquisition of Chinese. (#35)

        Bloom, Lois. One Word at a Time, chapters 2, 5 (#36)

        Limber, J. "The genesis of complex sentences." (#23)

[12]      Language, cognitive development and schooling. Effects of langauge, literacy, and culture on the development of the child.

        Slobin: chapter 6, "Language and cognition" (#29)

        Anderson, John R. “Acquisition of Cognitive Skill.” Psychological Review. 1982. Vol. 89, 

               No. 4, 369-406 (#0)

        Cook-Gumperz: "From oral to written culture: the transition to literacy." (#32)

        Goody & Watt: "The consequences of literacy" (#30)

        Vygotsky: "The prehistory of written language." Mind in society: the development of higher

                  psychological processes. (#33)

         Cole & Bruner: "Cultural differences and inferences about psychological processes."  American

                 Psychologist, 1971, 26, 867-876 (#34)

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