CHAPTER I.

GENERALITIES ABOUT PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

I.1. 1. origin of psycholinguistics

The studies of relationship between behavior and cognitive characteristics of those use language seem
to be the origin of psycholinguistics. Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt a german physician, physiologist,
philosopher,and professor, in 19 th century derived psychology from biology and philosophy and called
himself psychologist.

The term psycholinguistics was coined in 1936 by Jaco Robert Kantor in his book An objective
psychology of grammar and started being used among his team at Indiana university but its use finally
became frequent thanks to the 1946 article " language and psycholinguistics review" by the student
Nicholas Henry Pronko.

I.1.2. Issues going on

Psycholinguistics is concerned with the nature of the computations and prosses that the brain
undergoes to comprehend and produce. For example, the cohort models ( the cohort model in
psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics is a model of lexical retrieval first proposed by William Marslen-
Wilson in the late 1980s) try to describe how words are retrieved from the mental lexicon when an
individual hears or sees linguistic input. Recent research using new non invasive imaging techniques
seek to shed light on just where certain language processes occur in the brain. There are a number
unanswered questions in psycholinguistics, such as whether the human ability ti use syntax based on
innate mental structures or emerges from interaction with other humans, and whether some animal can
be taught the syntax of human language.

Two other major subfields of psycholinguistics investigate first language acquisition the process by
which infants acquire language, and second acquisition. In addition , it is much more difficult for adults
to acquire second language,then it is for infants to learn first language ( bilingual children are able to
learn both of thier native languages easily). Thus, sensitive periods may exist during which language can
be learned readily. A great deal of research in psycholinguistics focuses on how this ability develops and
diminishes over time. It also seems to be the case that more language one knows, the easier it is to learn
more.

Language deficits that arise in the field of aphasiology. Studies in aphasiology can offer advances in
therapy for individuals suffering from aphasia. It further explains how the brain processes language.

I. 1. 3. Theories of psycholinguistics
I.1.3. A. Behaviorist theory

The behaviorist theory of language learning emphasizes that language is a process of habits formation.
Language learning involves a period of trial and error where the child tries and fails to use corret
language until it succeeds. Infants also have human role models in their environement that provide the
stimili and rewards required for operent conditioning. For example, if a child start babblings, which
resembles appreciate words then his or her babbling will be rewarded by parents or loved one by
positive renforcement such as smile or clap.

I.1.3.B. Innateness theory

Noam Chomsky 's Innateness theory ( or native theory) processes that children have an inborn or innate
faculty for language acquisition that biologically determined. It seems that the human species has
evolved a brain whose neural circuits contain linguistic information at birth and this natural
predisposition to learn language is triggered by hearing speech. The child's brain is then able to interpret
what she or he hears according to the underlying principles or structure it already contains.

I.1.3.C. cognitive theory

A child first becomes aware of a concept such as relative size and afterward they acquire the words and
patterns to convey that concept. Essentially it is impossible for a young child to voice concepts that are
unknown to them and therefore once a child learns about their environement then they can map
language onto their prior experience. An infant's experience of a cat is that it meows, is furry and eats
from a bowl in the kitchen ; hence they develop the concept of a cat first and then learn to map the
word " kitty" onto the concept.

I.1.3.D. social interactionist theory

Children can be influenced by thier environement as well as the language input children receive from
their care- givers the child is a little linguist analyzing language from randomly encountered adults
utterences. The interacion theory proposes that language exixts for the purpose of communication and
can only be learned in the context of interaction with adults and old children.

I. 2. Definitions of psycholinguistics
The morphology of the concept suggests clearly that psycholinguistics is a hybrid term, which just means
made of two concepts which are as follow : Psychology that is the study of behavior as said JOHN
WATSON and linguistics that is the scientific study of language.

Plenty of definitions of psycholinguistics by different writers have been accepted according to their
thorough studies :

✓CHARLES F. HOCKETT ( 1955), defines psycholinguistics as the study of psychological and

neurological bases of language acquisition, production, and comprehension.

✓ WILHELM WUNDT ( 1900), says that it is the study of mental processes involved in
language , comprehension, production, and acquisition.

✓CARL WERNIKE ( 1877), defines psycholinguistics as the relationship between language

and thought, with an emphasis on how language disorders ( e.g. aphasia) can help us understand the
neural basis of language and cognition .

✓ CHOMSKY's psycholinguistics proposes that language is a natural human ability. He also

says that humans are born with a " language acquisition device" ( LAD) to learn and use language.

INPUT LAD OUTPUT

Primary General Grammatical

Linguistic data
Childs
(adult Language Knowledge speech
speech) Learning rules
principles

Generally speaking, psycholinguistics is the study of mental mechanism that make language produced,
understood, and used.

I. 3. Division of the study of psycholinguistics

The study of psycholinguistics can be devided into four main areas :

• language acquisition : how children learn their first language.

• language comprehension : how we process and understand language.

• language production : how we physically produce speech.

• second language acquisition : how we learn other language and how it differs from
learning a first.

In order to to understand and make suitable and good use of the concepts mentioned above,
psycholinguistics as well as most linguists split the study of psycholinguistics into the following
categories : • phonetics : the study pf speech sounds.

• morphology : the study of words formation

• syntax: the arrangements and relationship between words in a sentence.

• semantics : the study of meaning.

• pragmatics : the study of meaning in context.

I. 4. Branches of psycholinguistics

I.4.1. Neurolinguistics

Neurolinguistics is the study of language-brain relations. Its final goal is the com-prehension and
explanation of the neural bases for language knowledge and use. Neurolinguistics is by its nature an
interdisciplinary enterprise, and straddles the borders between linguistics and other disciplines that are
connected to the study of the mind/brain (mainly cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and cognitive
neuroscience). When approached from the point of view of the neurosciences, neurolinguistics focuses
on how the brain behaves in language processes, both in healthy and pathological conditions;
conversely, from a linguistics standpoint, neu-rolinguistics aims at clarifying how language structures can
be instantiated in the brain, i.e. how patterns and rules exhibited in human languages are represented
and grounded in the brain. In addition, neurolinguistics has a fundamental clinical impact for assessment
and treatment of patients suffering from aphasia and other language pathologies.The field was officially
opened up by the nineteenth-century neurologist Paul Broca with his observations of the correlation
between language disturbance and brain damage. Since then, over 100 years of investigation into the
organization of language in the brain were based on a lesion-deficit approach, in a localizationist
perspective. The significance of a brain area was deduced through observation of deficits following a
lesion to that brain region, and the exact localization of the lesion was verified through post-mortem
examination. The aphasiological era developed a functional model of language production and
comprehension that highlighted the Bambinirole of frontal and temporal regions (and connections
between them) in the left hemisphere, a model that has informed diagnosis and research up to date.
The state of knowledge began to change in the 1990s, with the advent of new methodologies for the
functional exploration of the living brain. Today it is possible to identify the cerebral regions involved in
the on-going performance of a specific linguistic task, and to relate brain activity to specific processing
stages unfolding over time. With the contribution of functional neuroimaging and neurophysiology
techniques, along with significant advances in clinical investigations, the field of neurolinguistics has
substantially broadened. On the one hand, the original model of language orga-nization in the brain is
currently undergoing a process of revision, which empha-sizes the role of distributed cerebral networks,
rather than specific isolated areas, with differences in regional involvement and relative order of
recruitment related to specific language sub-functions. On the other hand, scholars have started to
investigate subtler questions than the production and comprehension dicho-tomy, approaching the
representation of components such as phonology, syntax, semantics, and more recently
pragmatics.1While the field is relatively old and can be traced back to the nineteenth century, the term
‘neurolinguistics’ is quite recent. During the aphasiological era, what we now call neurolinguistics was
entrenched in the province of neurology, thus lacking a specific characterization. Only after the late
1960s the study of language-brain relations attracted the linguists’ interest, promoting the circula-tion
of the term. Roman Jakobson was probably the first linguist to realize the potential relevance of
neurolinguistic research for linguistic theories. Jackobson pointed out the importance of aphasia for
understanding how language is instanti-ated in the healthy brain, and for confirming or disconfirming
grammatical models stemming from theoretical linguistics (Jakobson 1941). The year 1985 witnessed
the birth of the Journal of Neurolinguistics, presented as “the first and only jour-nal that bears the name
of this relatively new but fast developing field called NEUROLINGUISTICS” and “the only journal
concerned with the interface of neurology and linguistics, an interdisciplinary realm of specialization
that takes upon itself the exploration of brain function in language behavior and experience” (Whitaker
1985). Nowadays the term neurolinguistics has become popular and stands aside other labels, among
which “neuroscience of language” and “neurobi-ology of language”, depending on the emphasis placed
either on the linguistic or on the neuroscientific perspective.

Neurolinguistics aims at presenting the major methodological trends and scientific achievements in
neurolinguistics, from the dawn of the field to the open challenges. The chapter is organized as follows.
After basic information on the anatomy of the human brain (Section 2), the issue of the cerebral
localization of linguistic processes is addressed in a historical perspective, from the founding fathers in
the aphasiological tradition (3.1–3.2) to contemporary findings in the functional neuroimaging literature
(3.3–3.5). Section 4 switches from the ‘where’ issue to the ‘when’ issue, and tackles the time course of
language processes in the brain, reviewing the major evidence obtained with neurophysiology
techniques. As for the neural correlates of pragmatics, although the interest emerged only a few
decades ago, nowadays this research domain is totally integrated and indeed a very vital area in the
neuroscience of language (Bambini ed. 2010). As such, hints into the localization and timing of pragmatic
processes in the brain are provided in Section 3 and 4, along with the other components of the language
system.2. The human brainThe physical seat for the representation and processing of language is
hosted in the brain. A side view reveals three major divisions in the human brain: the cere-brum, which
is the largest part and constitutes what is usually referred to as the “brain”; the cerebellum, which lies
behind the cerebrum and is primarily a move-ment control center with connections with the cerebrum
and the spinal cord; the brain stem, which forms the stalk from which the cerebrum and the cerebellum
sprout and serves to relay information to and from the spinal cord, and to regulate vital functions such
as breathing. The cerebrum is divided into two cerebral hemi-spheres (left and right) by the longitudinal
fissure, connected by a band of cross fibers (corpus callosum). The surface of the hemispheres is covered
with a layer of grey matter, the cerebral cortex, made up of nerve cell bodies (neurons), while the inner
layer, the white matter, consists mostly of long axons. While grey matter is mainly responsible for
information processing, white matter is responsible for information transmission, carrying nerve
electrical signals throughout the brain and the rest of the body. Clinical and experimental evidence
indicates that the cortex is the primary seat of human reasoning and cognition, including most aspects .

Considering its prominence in the human brain, the cortex deserves further description.Wernicke’s area
Broca’s area Superior temporal. Lateral view of the human brain (left hemisphere)The human cortex
measures about 1100 cm2 and is tightly corrugated to fit the confines of the skull. The folded structure
of the cortex is functionally motivated: it increases the surface area, allowing for a greater number of
cells in the same volume. The ridges are called gyri, the indentations are called sulci or, when especially
deep, fissures. The precise pattern of gyri and sulci varies across individuals, but the main structure is
constant, and used as reference point for delimiting the lobes of each hemisphere. In addition to the
already mentioned longitudinal fissure separating the two hemispheres, two other fis-sures are the
most prominent: the lateral sulcus, or Sylvian fissure, and the central sulcus, or Rolandic fissure. The
former separates the frontal from the temporal lobe; the latter separates the frontal from the parietal
lobe. A fourth lobe, the occipital, lays at the very back of the cerebrum, separated by the parieto-
occipital fissure.A frequent shorthand to refer to cerebral regions is Brodmann’s number-ing system. In
1909 Korbinian Brodmann produced a cytoarchitectonic map of the cortex identifying approximately 50
distinct cortical fields on the basis of different cell architectures (Brodmann 1909). He referred to these
regions by numbers from

Neurolinguistics 51 to 52, according to the order in which he studied them. These numbered areas are
usually referred to as Brodmann Areas (BAs).Although all structures of the brain interact, language is
traditionally thought to be implemented in the cerebral cortex. The portions of the cortex especially
involved in language processes are located in the frontal and temporal lobe of the left hemisphere, and
especially the inferior frontal gyrus and the superior and middle temporal gyri (respectively, Broca’s and
Wernicke’s area; see Figure 1). Recent research has highlighted the role of the right hemisphere too:
initially linked to pragmatic and emotional aspects of language, right hemisphere areas are indicated as
complementing the left in processing standard aspects of language too (Lindell 2006).In addition to the
cerebral cortex, the cerebrum includes subcortical struc-tures, grey matter structures that lie deep with
in the cerebrum, among which the basal ganglia that control movement; the hippocampal formation,
involved in diverse memory functions (e.g. declarative memory formation); and the amyg-daloid nuclei
that seem to be very important in processing emotions/ regulating emotional states. Recent evidence
suggests that subcortical structures participate in language processes too: specifically, the basal ganglia
are involved in motor articu-lation of speech, as well as in grammatical processing; the hippocampus
contributes to lexical storage, and the amygdala to the verbal expression of emotions.23. The
localization issue (Where matters)The central topic in the history of neurolinguistics is the localization of
the cerebral structures responsible for the different linguistic processes. The quest of mapping
language onto the brain crucially depends on the methodological resources available. Two main eras can
be identified, differing in leading methodologies and functional models: the aphasiology era, which
started in the 19th century and pro-duced the classical model articulated in centers and pathways in the
left hemi-sphere, and the neuroimaging era, started in the Nineties and still expanding, which has forced
researchers to rethink the classical model, moving towards a widely dis-tributed representation of
language in the brain. Another important issue concerns what aspects of language are mapped onto the
brain.

The physical seat for the representation and processing is hosted in the brain.

A side view reveals three major divisions in the human brain: the cere-brum, which is the largest part
and constitutes what is usually referred to as the “brain”; the cerebellum, which lies behind the
cerebrum and is primarily a move-ment control center with connections with the cerebrum and the
spinal cord; the brain stem, which forms the stalk from which the cerebrum and the cerebellum sprout
and serves to relay information to and from the spinal cord, and to regulate vital functions such as
breathing. The cerebrum is divided into two cerebral hemi-spheres (left and right) by the longitudinal
fissure, connected by a band of cross fibers (corpus callosum). The surface of the hemispheres is covered
with a layer of grey matter, the cerebral cortex, made up of nerve cell bodies (neurons), while the inner
layer, the white matter, consists mostly of long axons. While grey matter is mainly responsible for
information processing, white matter is responsible for information transmission, carrying nerve
electrical signals throughout the brain and the rest of the body. Clinical and experimental evidence
indicates that the cortex is the primary seat of human reasoning and cognition, including most aspects
of language. Considering its prominence in the human brain, the cortex deserves further description.
I.4.2. Language acquisition

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend
language as well as produce and use words and sentences to communicate.

Language acquisition is the most important stage in the développent of child at the age of one or two
years. At this period, the transformation of verbal communication which is more clear than
comprehension. An acquisition of language is when a child acquire language from parents or adults. At
that time children are saying non-sens things.
I.4.2.1. stages of language acquisition

While a child is growing up, there is a reciprocity of imitation between parents and baby.

✓from 2 to 3 months : a child can produce a sound and understand single words like mother and father.

✓from 4 to 5 months: we can hear from the baby the chirp which correspond at the age of 5 months a
baby can understand his name, he may even turn to look around him the person calling him.

✓from 6 to 12 months : a child or a baby is nomore screaming, but he's trying to speak, and he can
stand by himself, transport and arrange things. At the end of the first age, chirp are more clear than
never, and we may see repetition of words. the child has the capacity to pronounce first words.

✓from 15 to 18 months: a child can take a glass of water and drink alone. He may be imitating the house
activities.

✓from 20 to 24 months: infants can go up stairs with help, without help they will go up stairs , and they
may also run and jump.

✓from 30 to 36 months : a kid can touch himself a glass of water without danger, and be able to put off
his shoes or put on socks, and walk currently. At this age, children are capable to minupilate things, can
move things to other place, they can arrange,and also try to write.

The result of the end of the first age is that a child can produce sound of lips and tongue,play too much
with his voice and the speech that is imitative to some adults intonation. he is using meaningful gestures
to say bye, hello!!!!

I.4.2.2. aspects of child a development

BRUNER divided the development of thoughts into two ( 2) main periods . The former is from 0 to 2
named the period of perception whereas the tater starts at 2 named the period of conception. BRUNER
considered that during the first period , the child identifies and discovers the world in which he lives
through his five senses : touch, smelling,tast,sight, and hearing and added that it is the sensory - motor
development phase.

BRITTON believes that BRUNER makes distinction within this sensory - motor period since he sees it as
the establishment of two systems of representation, the first is action - cum - perception which he calls
errative system and then the action - free - perception which he calls iconic mode.
BRUNER makes a distinction within this sensory - motor period since he sees it also as the establishment
of two systems which he calls errative system and iconic system ; here the child learns to speak at about
two (2) years, but it is many years before his use of language enables him exploit the full ant peculiar
virtues of the linguistic mode of representation.

I.4.2.3. child intellectual development

✓sensory - motor stage : during this age, according to JEAN PIAGET, infants are only aware of what right
infront of them, they focus on what they see, what they are doing and phisical interaction with their
immediate environement , because they don't know how things react. They're constantly experimenting,
they shake things in the house, they throw things in their mouth and learn the world through trial and
error.

✓preoperational stage ( pre- school ) 3- 6 years: during this stage, young children are able to think
about things symbolically, their language use becames more mature, they also also develop memory
and imagination which allow them to understand the difference between the past and the future,but
their thinking is based on intuition and still not completely logic.

✓concrete operational ( 6 - 11 ): at this time elementary age and pre- adolescents children show their
logical, concrete reasoning . Children thinking becomes less focused on themselves, they are increasingly
aware of external events, they begin to realize that their own thoughts and feelings are unique and may
not be shared with others or not even be part of reality, but during this stage most children still can't
think abstractly or hypophetically.

✓formal operational stage ( 11- 14): adolescents who reach this fouth stage of intellectual development,
usually at the age of 11 and beyond are able to to use symbols related to abstract concepts such as
algebria and sciences. They can think about it in systematic ways and come up with theories and
consider possibilities.
Further more, in language acquisition we deal with children despite their limited mental abilities, they
acquire a language just few years in their lives, they are also confronted with input that is not complete
in sens. There are 2 main issues :

• acquisition study : how to study and answer our questions at the stage.

• strategies applied : the strategies applied by children over generalizing morphological

aspects in what they produce.

I.4.3. language processing

In psycholinguistics, language processing refers to the way humans use words to communicate ideas and
feelings, and how such communications are processed and understood. Language processing is
considered to be uniquely human ability that is not produced with the same grammatical understanding
or systematicity in even humans closest primate relatives.

Natural language processing has two main components which are as follows :

- natural language understanding:

• mapping input to useful representation.

• analysing different aspects of language.

- natural language generation :

• process of producing meaningful phrases and sentences in the form of natural language
from internal representation.

- it involves :

• text planning ( retrieving the relevant content from knowledge base)

• sentence planning ( choosing required words , forming meaningful phrases, setting tone of
sentences.
 I.4.3. 1. aspects of language processing

Lexical Anlysis :

• morphology

• word segmentation

Syntax: • sentence structure

• phrase

• grammar

Semantics :

• meaning

• execute commands

Discours Analysis :

• meaning of text

• relationship between
sentences

Pragmatic Analysis : • studies of

meaning in context.

I.4.3.2 stemming and lemmatization

✓stemming : is the process of reducing a word to its stem that affixes and prefixes or to the roots of
words.

✓Lemmatization: lemmatization is the process of grouping different inflected form of the same word.
Lemmatization takes a word and breaks it to down to its lemma.

For example: the verb «walk" might appear as " walking", " walks" or " walked ". Inflectional and such as
" s", " ed", and " ing" are removed . Lemmatization groups these words are its lemma " walk".

The difference between stemming and lemmatization is that a stemmer operates without knowledge of
context, and therefore cannot understand the difference between words which have different meaning
depending on parts of speech , whereas lemmatization attempts to select correct lemma depending on
the context.
 .
The image above explains language in the brain, with not this brain network , we would not be able to
talk or understand what is being said . As seen from the side . Two brain regions are highlighted in red
and orange. These regions are strongly involved in processing speech and language. The blue and green
lines illustrate connections that link the two regions with one another and form a network of language
areas.

I.5. connection between language and mental faculties

I.5. A. Language and memory

MICHAEL W. PASSER and RONALD E. SMITH (2001) say that memory refers to the processes that allow
us to record and later retrieve experience and information.

Language and memory are closely linked, with research showing that the way we speak or use language
can affect how we remember information. When learning a new language, the brain is developing
statistical model and neural coding scheme for language structure: the grammar patterns, how words
are pronounced and spelled, and word sequence map to meaning.

It is of great importance to say that whenever we are ready to speak, write (use language), it is in the
context of a maelstrom of memory in the two hemisphere of the brain.
I.5.B. language and imagination

By its definition, imagination is the process of forming images or concepts in the mind.

It shows that language is collectively designed for every specific communicative function : the
instructions of imagination. As opposed to all the other systemi of intentional communication in
biological world,it allows communicators to communicate directly with their interlocutor's imagination.

I.5.C. language and perception

The interaction between language and perception has been studied from various perceptive. Research
has shown that linguistic cues guide the interpretation of visual scenes, while perceptual information
shapes the interpretation of linguistic input.

In speech perception research , the term covers almost every sensory and perceptual operation, in
psycholinguistics the term has used to designate such divers processes as word recognition, the
segmentation of the speech signal, judgment of similarities between two linguistic structure,, and even
comprehension of connected discours.

In vision, we recognize a world of of objets, people,faces, we do not perceive, corners, shadows, and
edges. Whene dealing with speech, we perceive words and sentences, not just séquence of sounds.
Perceiving language means carrying out various psychological operations such as isolating and
segmenting words, phrases, and longer units,and attributing meaning to them.

Listening to an unknown language and to familiar one involves perception in both cases. However the
experience of being exposed to an unknown foreign language is completely different from that of
listening to a native language.

I.5.D. language and intelligence

Considering how psychologist conceptualize and measure human intelligence as the ability to think ,to
learn from experience to solve problems, and to adapt to new situations.

Our vast intelligence also allows us to have language, a system of communication that uses symbols in
regular way to create meaning. Language gives us that ability communicate our intelligence to others by
talking, reading, and wrting. As the psychologist STEVEN PINKER put it . language is the " jewel in the
crown of cognition"( Pinker, 1994).