The Psychology of Language: From Data To Theory - Hardcover

Harley, Trevor A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0863778666 ISBN 13: 9780863778667

Publisher: Psychology Press, 2001

Synopsis

The Psychology of Language (2nd Edition) is a thorough revision and update of the popular first edition. Comprehensive and contemporary, it contains all the student needs to know on the topic, presenting difficult material in a lively and accessible way. There is coverage of all the core topics in language in the undergraduate curriculum and the author interweaves evidence from the various approaches including cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and connectionist modelling. This edition includes expanded coverage of many topics including reading development, bilingualism, and the relation between language and memory.

About this title

Review:

"The book provides a comprehensive review of this complex field. It’s a certain choice for undergraduate students. It also points the more advanced student towards a radical new agenda for psycholinguistics, in which neurological evidence will play a key role."Alan Kennedy, University of Dundee

"Harley's second edition covers psycholinguistic research with impressive breadth and depth, making it well-suited for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. Remarkably clear and concise summaries of background material from linguistics and cognitive psychology should make psycholinguistic research and theories accessible to students with little background in either." Zenzi Griffin, Stanford University

"Dr Harley provides a very readable introduction to the issues, methods, and theories which frame the study of language from a psychological perspective. He has done an impressive job in writing such a comprehensive introduction to the field of psycholinguistics." Kathryn Kohnert, University of Minnesota

"The Psychology of Language (Second Edition) clearly integrates theory and research into a format that is clear and accessible by readers at the undergraduate and graduate levels ... the work is comprehensive, interesting, and challenging, and should stimulate critical thinking and further research by students. Highly recommended for courses dealing with language and psycholinguistics." Jeanette Altarriba, University of Albany, State University of New York

"It covers an impressive range of topics without abstracting away from individual findings, thereby not only providing information about many different research methods, but also enabling the reader to understand why the field's theoretical landscape looks exactly the way it does." Barbara Kaup, Florida State University

Synopsis:

Psycholinguistics, the study of the psychology of language, studies how we speak, read, remember, learn and understand language. This textbook examines each of these aspects of language in detail. It emphasizes how data from a number of sources are used to generate theories of language performance. In addition to conventional psychology experiments, it emphasizes the cognitive neuropsychology of language by showing how studies of the effects of brain damage on linguistic performance can inform our understanding of intact language processing. The book also examines in depth the impact of influential connectionist modelling. It also provides an integrative overview of how the components of the language system combine together. The text begins with the input side of language, and then covers the dyslexias. Moving on from how we understand single words, the book then examines how we process and remember phrases and sentences, how sentences are connected to form discourse, and how we represent the meaning of language. There is a detailed review of brain-damaged speech and language, and developmental issues are covered.

Finally, the book places language in a wider context: is language unique to humans? Does language influence the way we think?

About this edition

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0863778666
• ISBN 13: 9780863778667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 544