Modular elective lecture: Psycholinguistics 3200-L1-MPF-PLG

This course is an introductory survey of psycholinguistics concentrating on the way language interacts with cognition. In particular, the course will introduce students to psycholinguistics and its sub-fields including: the biological bases of language (the relationship between language and the processes of the brain and mind), speech perception, the lexicon, sentence processing, discourse, speech production, language development and acquisition as well as language breakdown (aphasia). Also, we will explore the major theories in the area of psycholinguistics (generative, cognitive, and neurocognitive) and try to relate them to daily linguistic practice. Finally, we will inquire into the process of translation from the psycholinguistic perspective.

a. the origin and development of psycholinguistics; definitions; scope of interest; methods of study (methods common to psycholinguistics and experimental psychology; qualitative methods; error analysis);
b. affinity between modern psycholinguistics and other areas of study, e.g. philosophy, anthropology, sociology, computer programming, psychiatry, rhetoric;
c. development of psycholinguistics and its reference to language theories (transformational-generative; cognitive, neurocognitive);
d. biological basis of human language functioning; explanations of language phylogeny; human communication and animal communication;
e. neurophysiological basis of human language functioning; methods of neurophysiological investigation; localisation and distributed processing theories;
f. cultural and social conditioning of human language functioning; theory of language relativism;
g. speech perception; its physical, physiological, neurological, sensory, cognitive, and affective aspects; factors determining perception: attention, stability, motivation, organisation, attitude, learning;
h. speech production; producing speech sounds; models of speech production;
i. ontogenetic language development; universal stages of language acquisition; development of language competence and communicative j. competence; communicative competence and its relation to discourse;
k. individual differences in language acquisition; phonological, grammatical, and pragmatic impairment in language development;
l. bilingualism; types of bilingualism; age, abilities, motivation - main factors determining types of bilingualism;
m. second/foreign language learning; factors influential in successful second/foreign language learning; comparison of first language acquisition and second/foreign language learning;
n. verbal and non-verbal communication; universal and culture-bound features; social and individuals features; lying; intra- and intercultural communication.