EKITI STATE UNIVERSITY

KWARA STATE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ILORIN

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

COURSE TITLE:
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

CODE:
ELS 404

BB
BY

ISA, A. R. (MRS)

ELS 404: PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

What is psycholinguistics?
Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental aspects of language
and speech, that is, it studies language and the human mind. It
is primarily concerned with the ways in which language is
represented and processed in the brain. It is easy to see that
there are two words that form the background to
psycholinguistics: psychology and linguistics. Hence, it is a
branch of both linguistics and psychology. Psychology is the
study of human behavior, a form which is linguistic behavior.
Linguistics, on the other hand, is the scientific study of language.
If we observe what is produced by a person via speech, we can
work out what goes on in the person’s mind. However, it is useful
to bear in mind that psycholinguistics is not a hyphenated
discipline: that is, it is not just a combination of linguistics and
psychology. It is a branch of applied linguistics drawing
extensively from insights from such fields as psychology,
neurology, linguistics and cognitive science. For us to understand
how language interacts with the human mind. Psycholinguistics
has to do with the storage, comprehension, production and
acquisition of language. It involves the study of the mental
faculties involved in the perception, production and acquisition of
language.

The Goals of Psycholinguistics

The main aim of psycholinguistics is to ‘find out the structures

and processes which underlie a human’s ability to speak and
understand language, that is, how human psychology is enabled
to acquire, produce and understand language. It deals with the
mutual relationship between language and human mind with a
focus on the use of psychological, scientific and experimental
methods to study language acquisition, production and
processing. Other goals are to find out: (1) how language
acquisition occurs (2) how language learning occurs (3) how
linguistics can help psychology and (4) how psychology or the
study of human mind can facilitate the study of language.

Why Psycholinguistics?
Psycholinguistics as a branch of study which combines
psychology and linguistics is concerned with the relationship
between the human mind and language. It examines the
processes that occur in brain while producing and perceiving
both written and spoken discourse. Psycholinguistics investigates
and describes the psychological processes that make it possible
for human beings to master and use language. Psycholinguists
make research on speech development and language
development and how people of all ages comprehend and produce
language. Scholars for a long time did not see any affinity
between linguistics and psychology. However, Noam Chomsky, an
American linguist and the father of modern linguistics came out
with the declaration that linguistics is a branch of cognitive
psychology and coherent theories viz-a-viz the theory of language
in relation to the human mind.

There are three major theories of how human beings acquire

language: i. Behaviourism which focuses on language learning by
imitation, practice and reinforcement; a child tend to imitate the
people around him. ii. Nativism (mentalist) which suggests that
human beings are born with innate understanding of language
and without being taught a normal child acquires it. Iii.
Interactionism which perceives language learning as a social
process that takes place by interactions with other people. The
two important theories very much related to psycholinguistics are
behaviourism and mentalism (innatism).

Behaviourism

Behaviourism is a congeries of formulation arising out of

empirical philosophy (Adegbite, 2003) B.F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov,
Jean Piaget, Vygoisky and Osgood are some of the scholars who
are associated with the behaviourist school. As Adegbite notes,
Skinner’s (1957) formulation for language learning and because
Chomsky’s criticism of its philosophical and psychological basis
marks the birth of modern psycholinguistics. The essential point
in behaviourism is simply that language learning occurs by
behaving in language: thus, for instance, children learn by
imitating adult speakers of a language. Skinner believed that
children learn language through operant conditioning: in other
words, children receive “rewards” for using language in a
functional manner. Skinner opined that children learn language
through imitation of others, prompting and shaping. In
behaviourism, association, imitation, reinforcement repetition
and punishment are key ideas. Language learning is seen as a
stimulus – response association. Let’s examine each of these
factors:

1. Imitation: any organism learns by imitation of activities.

Young children, for instance, imitate adults and thus learn
how to speak; read and write. Language
learning/acquisition is thus facilitated by imitation.
2. Association: this is pairing or contiguity. A learner should
be able to associate previous knowledge with present
knowledge.
3. Reinforcement: this may refer to reward after a correct
linguistic expression, the adult, say his or her teacher, may
reward him/her by shaking his/her hand or even ask other
learners to give him/her a clap to encourage the correct
language performance in the child.
4. Punishment: this may be used to discontinue wrong
linguistic responses or performances. Wrong linguistic
responses eventually cease once discourage by say verbal
abuse (at the extreme) or even caning in the case of school.
5. Repetition: correct verbal/linguistic responses become
reinforced through repetition. Teachers who ask their people
to repeat certain thing “again” and “again” are applying
behavioural insight.

Mentalism (Innatism)

The school is headed by Noam Chomsky. It is totally opposed to

the behaviourist school. In Review of Skinner’s Verbal behavior.
Chomsky (1958, 1965) dismisses the entire behaviourist
argument. In the first instance, according to Chomsky, ‘human
being cannot, and should not, be equated with the lower animals
(dogs, rats, pigeon, chimpanzee) since the brains of lower animals
are not so developed as to accommodate language. Chomsky
further insists that language is not a product of habit formation.

In Chomsky’s view, every human child born into this world is

endowed with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which
facilitates language acquisition. Language acquisition, then, is
not external but internal. Another point is that this LAD
processes universal grammar: that is, it is not language specific.

Thus, for instance, a Hausa child born in Tiv land would acquire
Tiv language effortlessly since the LAD with which (s) he is born,
is a mechanism for acquiring ANY language that the child is
exposed to. This is another way of saying that the human mind is
not a tabular raza (an empty plate) at birth; it contains the LAD.
Again, Chomsky maintains, this LAD is a special – specific to the
human race: no other specie enjoys the facility.

Finally, Chomsky introduces the ideas of linguistic competence

and linguistic performance. While competence is the unconscious
knowledge that a native speaker has of his/her mother tongue,
performance refers to the ability of the native speaker to produce
different sentences according to the situation (notice that in
Chomsky’s view, a grammar is just a collection of sentences).
This theory may be equated with Ferdinand de Saussure’s
langue/parole dichotomy and Dell Hymes’ linguistic
competence/performance.

However, although Chomsky’s innatist theory can be regarded as

an improvement on behaviourism, it is not without its critics.
Chomsky’s notion of “competence” has been heavily criticized,
particularly in Britain, because it is grammar – centric ignoring
pragmatic aspects of language. For instance, all children while
acquiring the grammar (of their various mother tongues) also
acquire appropriate cultural behavior, norms and expectations.
This has given rise to the notion of “communicative competence”,
which subsumes grammatical cultural and strategic competence.
In modern linguistics, Chomsky postulated in Universal
Grammar (UG) that certain set of structural rules are innate to
human beings.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEHAVIOURISM AND MENTALISM

 - BEHAVIOURISM
 Language acquisition is an outcome of experience.
 Language acquisition is a stimulus/response process.
 Language learning is by imitation.
 Language learning is practice based.
 Language acquisition is the result of nurture.
 Language acquisition is an observable behavior.
 Human beings’ brain/mind is empty (Tabular- raza).
 Knowledge of language is out of individuals.
 Language learning is determined by the environment.
 Language learning requires formal guidance.
 The child is a passive recipient.
 Language learning is a mechanical process.
 Language is a form of cognition.
 Language is a theory of behavior not knowledge.

- MENTALISM
 Language acquisition is an outcome of condition.
 Language acquisition is a congenital process (intuitive).
 Language learning is by application.
 Language learning is role based governed.
 Language acquisition is the result of nature.
 Language acquisition stresses on internal thought process.
 Human being brain/mind is not empty (Tabular- raza).
 Knowledge of language is inside individuals.
 Language learning is a separate module.
 Language learning does not require formal assistance.
 The child is an active participant.
 Language learning is a creative process.
 Language is a theory of knowledge and behaviour.


Importance of Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguistics helps to understand the difficulties of the four

language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing (both
intrinsic difficulties and extrinsic difficulties). It also helps to
explain the errors students do or make in the language learning.

Language Learning Versus Language Acquisition

Language learning may be defined simply as a conscious, formal

process of mastering a target language. It is typically a classroom
process and hence there are teaching aids such as the
chalkboard, computers, textbooks, charts, language laboratory,
compact disks, projectors, television sets and the like. In addition
to this, there is a programme of instruction also known as the
syllabus which guides the teaching/learning process.

Language acquisition, on the other hand refers to the implicit,

subconscious, non-formal, natural process of mastering
language. Language acquisition is an active process that begins
at birth and continues throughout life. Language acquisition is
therefore based on the neuro-psychological processes which is
without conscious effort, without any syllabus, and without any
teacher. it is based on the neuro-psychological processes which
indeed makes a child acquire a language in the same manner
that (s)he acquires psychomotor skills such as walking, running
etc. Children acquire language through interaction with parents,
other adults and other children. Noam Chomsky postulates that
the mechanism of language acquisition is derived from the innate
processes (something already in mind since birth). The three
main theories of language acquisition are; (i) Cognitive theory (ii)
Imitation and Positive Reinforcement and (iii) Innateness of
Certain Linguistic features.

But there are basic requirements for language acquisition:

1. Innate Predisposition: this simply implies the human

faculty for acquiring language. This faculty is located in the
human brain called the cerebral cortex is unique to the
human in species, and is the seat of LAD. It is an internal
faculty.
2. Sociocultural Requirements: Even though every human
child is born with a LAD (s)he must still be brought up in
human society for language acquisition to take place. This
 means that human children not raised in human society
would not acquire any language despite their possession of
LAD socio-cultural factors can then be explained as those
factors outside or external to the child language acquirer
3. Absence of impairment/physical disability: physical
disabilities such as dumbness or brain damage must be
absent in the child (or adult) acquiring a language.
Language or speech impairment is otherwise known as
aphasia
At this juncture we may want to outline the stages of
child normal language acquisition (notice that adults can
also acquire a target language if they live and interact
closely in the speech community where such language is
spoken):
1. Cooing/Pre-talking stage (screaming/crying: this is
the first stage of language acquisition. Typically occurring
between 0-6 months. Here is where children begin to
produce velar consonants such as (g) and (k). and then
syllables such a da, ma, ba.
2. Babbling stage: this is a stage in child during which an
infant experiment uttering articulate sounds but does not
yet produce any recognizable sounds. It is a vocal
experimentation occurring between 6-8 months.
3. Holophrastic/one-word state (sound imitation): this is
the one – word stage. Here, the child reduces entire
sentences to one word expressions: tea (often pronounced
(di:), fish, amala, biscuit etc. Typically, the child produces
the names of common home items. The holophrastic
stage is between 9-18 months.
4. Two-word stage (verbal understanding and uterrances:
Here all utterances are reduced to two words: “baby
drink”, “mummy biscuit”. etc. This occurs between 18 -
24 months.
5. Telegraphic speech stage: In telegrams, only the most
essential words are retained. So also in the telegraphic
speech stage (24 – 30 months) when the child reduces
whole sentences into content words (nouns, verbs,
adverbs, adjectives) e.g:
1. Mummy takes ball (for Mummy takes the ball)
 2. I see got (for I see a goat) etc.
6. Grammatical stage: Also called the multiple utterance
stage, this is when the child begins to produce whole
sentences. It signals linguistic maturity or grammatical
maturity. This is from age 4 upwards.

Although the foregoing may suggest that language acquisition

and language learning are poles apart, it is important to learn
that this is not really the case. Whether a language is being
acquired or learnt, the goal is the same: being able to efficiently
use the language. Notice also that only certain skills of language
(speaking and listening) can be acquired: writing and reading
have to be learnt.

Again, it may be reiterated that even though language acquisition

is most often a children’s affair, adults can also acquire a
language: that is, come to master its use without any explicit
instruction.

Language and Brain

Language is major means by which human beings communicate

using arbitrary symbols such voice sounds, gestures or written
symbols. Language is the uniqueness of human beings; hence
the use of language is universal. Brain is a complex organ in the
head that controls every process that regulates our body. It
integrates sensory information and directs motor responses.

The study of language and brain is called neurolinguistics. The

human brain, a major constituent of the central nervous system,
coordinates all bodily and sensory activities. Psycholinguistics
tries to explain how language is processed in human brain. It is
confirmed that language resides in the left hemisphere of the
brain.

The hemispheres are contained in the cerebral cortex, one of the

four parts of the brain. It is however the left hemisphere that is
most significant for language; that is, it is the seat of language.
The left hemisphere (of the cerebral cortex) controls the right part
of the body while the right hemisphere controls the left part of
the body. In most people, the left hemisphere is predominant, but
there are left – handed people for whom the right hemisphere.
Language, Thinking and Cognition

Language is the most distinguishing characteristic of the human

species. Language is a system of conventional spoken, sign or
written symbols by means of which human beings express
themselves as members of a social group (culture). It is typically
vocal noise or its graphical representation used systematically
and conventionally by a group of people (speech community).
Cognition, on other hand, simply means awareness, including
sensations but excluding emotion. Cognition is knowing or
knowledge. It is the action or process of acquiring knowledge and
understanding thought or sense experience. The existence of
language as a cognitive process affects the system of thinking.
Naturally, thinking comes before language and language learning
interacts with the conceptual process that is formed before
language use. Therefore, each language spoken may affect the
system of thinking. Adegbite (2003: 18) posits that cognition is
embodied in thought, whereas thought is a complex phenomenon
that encompasses the knowledge that emanates from the mind or
brain, either by reason or sense experience. He further notes that
although thought can be connected directly to cognition,
language cannot be connected directly to cognition. Rather
language relates to cognition indirectly via thought. Hence,
language is learned early in life with only limited cognitive
understanding of the world.

Basic Components of Language

The five main components of language are:

i. Phonemes (phonology)
ii. Morphemes (morphology)
iii. Lexemes
iv. Syntax
v. context (pragmatics)

These components together with semantics, pragmatics and

grammar work together to create meaningful communication
among individuals.
Functions of Language

According to Micheal Halliday (2003), seven initial functions of

language include: Regulatory function, Interactional function,
Representational function, Instrumental function, Personal
function, Imaginative function and Heuristic function.

Geoffrey Leech (1974) mentions five functions of language as:

informative, expressive, directive, aesthetic, phatic.

First Language and Second Language

A first language is the mother tongue or native language of a

person while a second language is a language a person learns in
order to communicate with the native speaker of that language.
The replication of rules from first language (L1) to the second
language (L2) is called *language transfer*, which is also known
as interference, L1 interference and cross meaning. Krashen
(1983) identified that students learning a second language move
through five predictable stages: preproduction, early production,
speech emergence, intermediate fluency and advanced fluency.

Piagetian Theory on Language and Thought

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development describes cognitive

development as a process which occurs due to biological
maturation and interaction with the environment. Jean Piaget
based his theory on the idea that children do not think like
adults. He holds that the mental structures of children develop
from infants to adults through their interactions with their
environment. Piagetian theory purports that children’s language
is the reflection of their reasoning skills.

In Piagetian theory, the child begins from relatively simple

activities and then progresses to complete level of activities. The
child starts forming concepts in (thought) his/her mind before
(s)he starts using language; that is early thought or thinking in
the child is external to language.

In Piagetian theory, cognitive properties built up through

interaction with the environment proceed language. Thus, he
rejects the nativist assumption of Noam Chomsky who posits the
independence of the origin of language while insisting that
linguistics rules are innate. He (Piaget) believes that it is the
cognitive properties or faculties which proceed language in the
child that influence language acquisition. Let us look at the
stages of thought and cognitive development in the child in
Piagetian theory:

1. Sensory Motor Period (0-2 years): The first stage is a

period when infants focus on physical sensation; they feel
the presence or existence of things (objects) around them.
Here, the child elaborates conditional responses which
maintain his/her dynamic equilibrium: accommodation
(which means that the child accepts the features of his/her
environment as they are) and assimilation (which means
that the child learns to use some of the features of his/her
environment). Piaget states that the child’s linguistic
behavior at this stage is crying and (later) babbling.
2. Pre-Conceptual Intelligence Period (2-4 years): At stage
two, children can reason things symbolically trying
understand that an object symbolizes something; at this
stage, the child begins to form concepts, but may not
distinguish properly between specific and general notions.
For instance, she may describe all four-legged animal as
dogs.
3. Intuitive Thinking Period (4-7 years): the child engages in
intuitive thinking, which often result in the formation of
wrong concept. The child may, for instance, think that a big
tea cup necessarily contains more tea than a smaller one.
Thus, even when you put the same quality of tea in each of
the two cup, the child may prefer the longer one.
4. Concrete Operation Period (8-11 years): This stage marks
the period when children begin to think reasonably or
logically. It marks the start off of operational thought, they
reason things and work them out internally in their head;
here, the child can pass empirical judgments more subtly
because (s)he has acquired some conversation about
passing empirical comments on concrete objects.
5. Formal Operation (11-15 years): this is the final stage of
cognitive development. The child can now form abstract
 concept. At the fourth or last stage, children begin to think
and deal with abstract ideas. It is a stage of scientific
thinking, formulating abstract theories and hypothesize
when faced with a problem.

Let us sum up Piagetian theory. In broad term, the theory states

that thought proceeds language in the child, but that when the
child begins to acquire languages, it enables her/him to form or
acquire various concepts. You can see that this is radically
different from the theory of linguistic determinism, in which
thought is impossible without language, since language shapes
thought.

Vygotsky’s Theory on Language, Thought and Cognition

This theory is similar in some ways to Piagetian theory, in that it

also accepts the view that thought and cognition proceed
language. However, Vygotsky maintains that thought goes on in
child without the use of language until age 2 when pre-linguistic
thought and pre-intellectual language meet in the child to initiate
a new kind of behaviour. This means that it is the age of two that
the child merges language and thought processes to his/her own
advantage.

The child then graduates between age 3 and 7 into using

language for performing internal and external functions, that is,
for thinking and for interpersonal or social interaction.
Nevertheless, the child still makes egocentric speech (thinking
aloud) because (s)he cannot yet distinguish the two linguistic
functions. This “thinking aloud” you might have noticed a young
child doing at some point in time: that is, without addressing
anyone in particular, the child speaks out his or her mind. It is a
kind of maturational or development/psycholinguistic soliloquy.
However as from age 7 upward the child begins to distinguish
between language for thought and language for interaction.

To summarize, Vygotsky sees the child as acquiring cognitive and

linguistic development in four stage: non-verbal thought stage (0-
2 years), which also involves perfunctory speech, language and
thought merger stage; language use for thought and interaction
stage, which also involves inability to distinguish linguistic
thinking and linguistic socio interaction and, finally, the full
cognitive and linguistic maturational stage.

We all as normal human beings have problems saying some

things on certain occasion, primarily because of psychological
factors such as anxiety, stress, memory loss etc. Somebody was
quoted to have said sokoto bamimu kareem wa “A pair of
trousers please bring me kareem” instead of “Kareem ba mimu
sokoto wa”? (Kareem, please bring me a pair of trousers”). Such
tangled expression as this are ealied slips. This may be of
different types:

1. Spoonerism e.g you have hissed all my mystery lectures

(you have missed all my history lectures)
2. Ear slip (mishearing): e.g. when someone says “Let’s mown
the lawn” but you hear “let own the law” or when you hear
“you just bring me a beer” when. Indeed, what was said was
“In jos, he was the ring leader”.
3. Reversal slips: e.g. You peel fetter (you feel better), a Nigerai
is a create gontry (Nigeria is a great country) or ket me the
gup (get me the cup)

Actually, if you tried pronouncing the phrase. “Obo n gbo bo g

ope” (A monkey is carrying another monkey up a palm tree) very
fast and no-stop for about six times. You’ll slip into this kind of
error. Try it!

You can see that you’ve said funny things like “a gonkey is
bragging” if you said it in English!

Allied to slips are tongue tips which describe a situation where

certain words simply elude you. Someone was quoted to have
once said, “Don’t let me lose my temperature! Get out”. This kind
of error is also called malapropism a term you would understand
very well if you’ve read Richard Sheridon’s the Rival in which
Mrs. Malapropos constituently uses the wrong words in context
because of their phonological similarity. The following are
examples are malapropism.

1. The minister wants tenure expression (expansion)

 2. I’m grateful for your Hostility (hospitality). I hope you’ll
find time to visit Ibadan soon so we can emphasize
(finalize) the deal).

Studies in speech error such as the foregoing provide a clue for

understanding how information is stored and retrieved in the
human brain, as errors have been discovered to occur in a
systematic order, rather than at random. Another point to note is
that, for emphasis, speech errors are much more common and
permanent than for non-emphasis.

In general, however, we may classify speech error into two types

major typed production errors and perception errors.

Aphasia (Language Impairment/Language Disorder)

Aphasia is described as an impairment of language function due

to localized cerebral (brain) damage, leading to difficulty in
speech production or understanding. It is a brain disorder where
a person finds it difficult to speak or understand other people
due to damage or disruptions in parts of brain that control
spoken language. According to Yule (1997:167), the most
common cause of aphasia is a stroke, although traumatic head
injuries suffered through violence or accidents may have similar
effects. Aphasia is often treatable as speech therapy helps such a
condition permanently.

There are basically two types of aphasia (Steinberg, 2003):

Broca’s aphasia and Wernickes aphasia. Patients suffering from
Broca’s aphasia can often make sense in their speech, but their
speech is telegraphic, often without grammatical inflection and
function words: You stupid (You’re stupid), boy laugh (The body
laughed), etc. Broca aphasics have a lot of difficulty producing
speech, but they tend to understand better, Broca’s aphasia is
also called motor aphasia.

Wernicke’s aphasia is also known as sensory aphasia. Wernicke’s

aphasics find it difficult to understand speech, but can generally
speak very fluently. However, their speech often hardly makes
any sense. Consider this example from Adegbite (2003:16).
Apart from Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia, there are other forms
of language disorder:

1. Conduction aphasia: this occurs when there is a damage to

the actuate fasciculus. Patients suffering from this disorder
have difficulties repeating w ords or phrases, and often
pause and hesitate in their speech.
2. Dyslexia: this signals a reading or writing disability in
which the aphasic reads or write backwards (e.g. daor for
road)
3. Anomic aphasia: this is marked by difficulties in finding
correct words in spontaneous speech, and is also a common
features of the speech of Wernicke’s aphasics e.g. “Can I ge.
Um………um, that one…….”
4. Global aphasia: this is close to speechlessness. Here,
almost the entire speech apparatus is badly affected. The
worst form of aphasia is of course, speechlessness, often
accompanied by paralysis.

Factors that Determine the type of Aphasia

1. Loss of Fluency
2. Problems with Understanding
3. Struggle with Repetition

Production Errors/Slips of the Tongue

A speech error occurs when someone says words or sounds

unintentionally as a result of differences in the movement of the
parts of the tongue.

i. Anticipation error: these arise when we use a speech

sound which is supposed to occur later on in our speech
production e.g. flied lice for fried rice, leading list for
‘reading list’.
ii. Preservation error: they occur when we use an earlier
sound in a current utterance in a later situation e.g.
Charles played the ball (Charles played the pall (error)
iii. Error of metathesis: this involves replacing one sound
with another or switching sounds each taking the place of
 the other. e.g. dear old queen – Wooer ol dear (error,) pos
pocket instead of ‘pus pocket’.
iv. Spoonerism: a kind of metathesis, it involves switching
of initial sounds of two separate words e.g. I saw you fight
a liar instead of ‘I saw you light a fire’.
v. Sound exchange error: this involves switching speech
sound e.g. clear blue sky – glear plue sky, knife light
instead of ‘night life’. (error).
vi. Error of additional and omission (deletion): this
involves adding an extra speech sound or deleting speech
sounds e.g. she can tell me instead of ‘she can’t tell me’.
Others factors include stranding, shift, perseveration,
exchange, blending etc.