Psycholinguistics

Hello dear student,

This course offers a comprehensive and systematically organized introduction to Psycholinguistics, the study of the psychological and neurobiological processes that enable humans to acquire, comprehend, and produce language. It is designed to present key concepts in a clear, precise, and academically rigorous manner, helping you understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying language and its development.

Throughout the course, you will explore the following core topics:

• Foundations of psycholinguistics
  Key definitions and an overview of language learning processes

• Language comprehension and production
  How humans understand and produce language in real-time

• Neurolinguistics
  Differences between neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics, brain hemispheres, and their roles in language processing

• Types of aphasia
  Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia, including their characteristics and effects on language

• Language learning and acquisition
  Contrasting behaviorism and mentalism, including Skinner’s box experiments, Pavlov’s salivation experiments, the Language Acquisition Device, and Nim the ape experiment

• Stages of language acquisition
  Pre-linguistic stage (birth–10 months: crying, cooing, babbling), holophrastic stage (12–18 months), telegraphic stage (2–3 years), and complex stage (3–5 years)

The course emphasizes both theoretical foundations and practical applications, providing examples, experiments, and real-life observations to illustrate how language develops and functions cognitively.

This course is ideal for students seeking a rigorous, clear, and practical foundation in psycholinguistics for academic study, research, or professional development in language sciences.

Looking forward to seeing you in the course.