Page 199 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 14: Branches in Linguistics: Psycho-Linguistics

• Similarly psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics are coming closer because of the realization Notes
that merely grammatical competence is not enough; we have to aim at communicative
competence too. Whereas psycholinguistics is language and the mind, sociolinguistics is
language and community. In other words, psycholinguistics can be said to deal with language
and the individual, and sociolinguistics with language and society.
• Psycholinguistics covers a wide range of interests, and other aspects are currently being studied.
The study of speech disturbances, aphasia, pausing and hesitations, language use, etc. are the
other aspects of psycholinguistics. More recent studies are taking into consideration not only
the utterance of children but also of parents. The realisation is growing that future studies must
take into account the child’s whole environment, and particularly the speech of its parents.

14.5 Key-Words

1. Empiricists : Behaviourists
2. Rationalists : Mentalists
14.6 Review Questions

1. What is psycholinguistics?
2. Write a note on the process of language acquisition.
3. Distinguish between the empirical (behavioural) and rationalistic (mentalistic) approach to
language acquisition.
4. ‘The first things that are learned are principles—not items: principles of categorization and pattern
perceptions’. Discuss.
5. What is the crucial difference between being able to utter some sentences of English and being
able to ‘speak English’?
Answers: Self-Assessment

1. The boundary between psycholinguistics and linguistics is becoming increasingly blurred as the
result of recent developments in linguistics which aim at giving psychological reality to the
description of language.

14.7 Further Readings

1. Verma, S.K., V.N. Krishnaswamy. Modern Linguistics: An Introduction.
2. An Introduction to Linguistics, John Lyon.
3. Peter Roach: English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge University Press.
4. Encyclopedia of Linguistic Science Edited By V. Prakasam, Allied Pub.,
New Delhi.

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