The field of study where researchers investigate linguistic factors and psychological aspects of language.
What is Psycholinguistics?
Have you ever wondered how language works? Whether it shapes our thoughts, or whether our thoughts shape it? These are questions that psycholinguists seek to answer.
Psycholinguistics is a cognitive science that focuses on the ways in which the brain processes and interprets language (Nordquist, R.). Researchers in this field attempt to understand the processes behind our ability to communicate via language.
For example, what makes it possible for us to speak with one another? What is the difference between our brains and those of other species’ that enables us to have thoughts that we try to convey to one another via words? Where did language even come from, anyway? These questions were popularized by American psychologist Jacob Robert Kantor.
A Brief History of Psycholinguistics
Empirical psycholinguistics dates back more than two centuries, during the period of Enlightenment at the end of the eighteenth century. There were originally four roots of psycholinguistics which had merged by the end of the nineteenth century, due mostly to Wilhelm Wundt in his “Die Sprache” from 1900 (Levelt, W.).
The four roots are: comparative linguistics, the study of language in the brain, the diary approach to child development, and “the experimental laboratory approach to speech and language processing” (Levelt, W.). These fields continued into the twentieth century, but diverged more by country than by actual field of study.
For example, Swiss/French and Prague/Viennese Structuralism, German consciousness and thought psychology, and Russian and American behaviourism were a few of the fields.
Modern psycholinguistics is split into six sections: language processing, lexical storage and retrieval, language acquisition, second language acquisition and use, special circumstances, and the brain and language. The major figurehead for psycholinguistics in the modern era is Noam Chomsky, the most cited individual on the planet.
A Few Notable Figures
Wilhelm Wundt
Often referred to as ‘the father of experimental psychology.’
He is not only credited as the trailblazer of the fourth original root of psycholinguistics- “the experimental laboratory approach to speech and language processing” (Levelt, W.), but is also responsible for merging the four roots.
Furthermore, he is the founder of the first psychology laboratory, where he studied numerous disciplines, a few being: animal and human physiology, spiritualism, politics, poisons, and history (Kim, A.).
Wilhelm had a vast knowledge base, and published as many as 53,000 pages of articles, handbooks, and tomes on linguistics. His three major disciplines throughout his lengthy career were psychology, philosophy, and physiology, and he published a great deal on them all. Finally, Wundt’s ideas were the basis of psychology’s divorce from philosophy. Previous to him, the fields had been one and the same, and he was able to let psychology stand on its own.
Jacob Robert Kantor
First to introduce the term ‘psycholinguistics’ in his book “An Objective Psychology of Grammar” (Nordquist, R.).
The term caught on with his students and soon became popular among researchers in the field. Kantor worked at Indiana University from 1920-1959, published over twenty books, and was well respected in his field\
Furthermore, he co-founded the Principia Press in 1932, an academic journal called Psychological Record in 1937, and wrote and published many articles.
Noam Chomsky
Chomsky is often referred to as “the founder of modern linguistics.”
He has won numerous awards for his work in the field, and is one of the most cited scholars of the modern era. One of Chomsky’s most famous contributions is his concept of universal grammar
This is the idea that all human language is innate in the unique structure of the brain.
Essentially, this theory states that humans possess the ability to communicate with each other via language, which is an uncommon trait among the animal world. Finally, Chomsky has contributed to the fields of philosophy, psychology, mathematics, child development, and cognitive science, making his career one of the most notable among linguists.
Conclusion
Psycholinguistics is a complex field of study that has been gaining importance throughout its existence. In the modern era, our understanding of language has been used to polarize groups of people, to the extent that we no longer agree on what the truth is. Language is so important in society, and when used as a weapon it can do immense harm.
We possess the ability to understand one another, and to communicate our thoughts and ideas in a way that other species do not. By understanding the science behind psycholinguistics and looking at language from as objective a lens as possible, we may just be able to bring ourselves back from the ledge.
Works Cited
Levelt, Willem. "History of Psycholinguistics: The Pre-Chomskyan Era." Oxford
Scholarship Online, Oxford UP, 2012, oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/
view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653669.001.0001/acprof-9780199653669.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Nordquist, Richard. "Psycholinguistics Definition and Examples." ThoughtCo.,
Dotdash Meredith, 6 Sept. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/
psycholinguistics-1691700. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
"Psycholinguistics - All about Linguistics." School of English,
all-about-linguistics.group.shef.ac.uk/branches-of-linguistics/
psycholinguistics/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Kim, Alan. "Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)."
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics Research Lab, 16 June
2006, plato.stanford.edu/entries/wilhelm-wundt/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
"J.R. Kantor's Interbehavioral Psychology - Home." Kantor.Weebly.com, Weebly,
kantor.weebly.com. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
"Noam Chomsky: The Department of Linguistics." College of Social and Behavioural
Sciences: Linguistics, Board of Regents: U of Arizona,
linguistics.arizona.edu/user/noam-chomsky. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
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