Psychology of Language

Catalog description

Overview of psychological research and theory on language processes, including speech perception, word recognition, meaning representation, comprehension, and language acquisition. LING (PSYCH) 457 Psychology of Language (3)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. How do we process language? Why do we easily adjust to a speaker with a foreign accent? How do young children come to speak the language to which they are exposed? Why is it difficult to learn a second language as an adult? This course focuses on the cognitive processes engaged by language use. Topics to be covered include speech perception, word recognition, representation of word meaning, comprehension of sentences, spoken production of words and sentences, and first and second language acquisition. In addition, the role of language in the study of thought and the role of biological mechanisms in theories of language learning will be discussed, as well as ways in which research on the language of special populations (e.g., deaf signers, dyslexics, aphasics) can inform theories of language processing and representation.