ENG 346: Aspects of the English Language

ENG 346: Aspects of the English Language

Lesson 12: Psycholinguistics
Week: April 7-13, 2003

Place: Dial 147

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to do each of the following:

  • Describe the basic language processes that take place in the human brain.
  • Describe various kinds of personal variation, including aphasia and idiolects.
  • Define relevant terms.

Assignments

Read Chapters 10 and 11 of Contemporary Linguistics before you come to class on Monday.

 

Complete your final portfolio and bring it to class on Monday.

Activities

Think Fast: Identify and analyze the slip of the tongue I assign you in class.

 

Presentation: Psycholinguistics (Professor Canada)

 

Cooperative Learning:  Respond to questions 5, 7, and 10 at the end of Chapter 10 of Contemporary Linguistics and questions 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8.

 

Discussion: During this time, we will discuss the insights and questions that have emerged during our “Think Fast” exercise, my presentation, and cooperative learning.

 

Workshop:  Pair up with a partner and take turns quizzing each other on concepts covered in this course.

 

Conferences: During these one-on-one conferences, I will review some of your writing, orally quiz you on lesson objectives, and field your questions.

 

Announcements: We will wrap up this lesson with announcements regarding upcoming lessons, as well as other relevant subjects.

Terms

Make sure you know the meaning and significance of each of the following terms:

  • aphasia
  • Broca’s area
  • cerebral cortex
  • cerebral hemispheres
  • corpus callosum
  • dyslexia
  • Wernicke’s area

Resources

The Ascent of Babel is a recent and fascinating book on psycholinguistics.

Updated January 7, 2003
© Mark Canada, 2003
mark.canada@uncp.edu
 

Introduction

In our last lesson, we completed our tour of the history of English.  In this lesson, we look at psycholinguistics, the study of how the brain processes language.  Please note that your final portfolio is due in class on Monday.

Discussion

Psycholinguistics

Language is an extremely complex system, and yet virtually all human beings master it within the first few years of life.  In our next lesson, we will look at how they acquire their linguistic skills.  Before we take on that fascinating subject, we will look in this lesson at exactly where and how language is processed in the human brain.  We also will examine examples of problems that occasionally occur.  As you work your way through this material, you will want to focus on the basic aspects of normal language processing, the areas where this processing takes place in the brain, and the various kinds of language disorders.

Practice

Below are some activities designed to help you master the knowledge and skills covered in this unit.  

  1. Dyslexia: Read this article about dyslexia.  Be sure to visit and read several of the links within the article. What is dyslexia? How are experts trying to help dyslexics learn to read?
  2. Brain Physiology and Language: Discuss the following questions: 
    1. How are cognitive functions organized in the human brain? How do we know? 
    2. What do patterns in speech errors reveal about the way the human brain processes language? 
    3. Consider the following scenario: In shopping for an electrician to do some wiring in your home, you talk to two. One articulately explains the work that needs to be done, while the other fumbles for words and misspells "Thursday" on the estimate he writes for you. Would you make a decision based on this information? Use what you have learned about localization to come up with a response to each one. Would you have reacted differently before you studied localization? 
  3. Language Processing: Listen to the following sentence and try to transcribe it as I speak: "The manager of the plants say they will remain open only if there is sufficient demand for the products they manufacture." Compare your transcriptions with the original and with one another's transcriptions. What do your errors reveal about the process of understanding speech and perhaps about your own idiolect? 
  4. Idiolects: What linguistic features did Donald Foster use to identify the author of Primary Colors?  Do you agree with Foster's conclusion? Now read these passages. Two were written by the same person. Which ones are they? Defend your answer by referring to patterns in lexicon and syntax. Try to identify this author further. Is the writer male or female? What is his or her race? When did he or she live? Again, defend your answer.This author is well-known. Try to name him or her. 

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have examined psycholinguistics.  In our next lesson, we will look at language acquisition.