A Psycholinguistics Book Review

Psycholinguistics is a field of study concerned with psychological aspects of

language studies. It goes to the heart of what we do with language and it provides

insights into how we assemble our own speech and writing and how we understand

that of others. As the field of Psycholinguistics is relatively new, not all

Psycholinguistics books cover the same subject matter. For any learner who has

never been exposed to any aspects of Psychology, it is recommended to start off

with an introductory book. Having to browse a few books, I subsequently found

quite a comprehensive book compared to other Introduction to Psycholinguistics

books. The technicality in elaborating the subject matters might not be of

comprehension to entry level learners. Nevertheless, I found it comprehensible on

the whole. The book entitled Psycholinguistics : Psychology, Linguistics and the

Study of Natural Language, authored by Joseph F. Kess, published by John

Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia 1992. This ten-chaptered

book covers from the history of Psycholinguistics right up to first language

acquisition by children inclusive of the study of phonology, morphology, syntax,

discourse, semantics, and biological correlates.

Through my analysis, each topic in this book carries approximately the same

weight. Each topic is being theoretically and practically discussed and investigated

in some detail. Also detailed are those research topics that have captured the

interests of psycholinguists over the past few decades like language and thought

and language acquisition. The chapter Language and Thought, where some books

would use the term Language and the Brain, starts off with the author’s introductory

comments, and moves on to thorough discussion on Linguistic Relativity

Hypothesis and ends with an interesting insight on Piaget and Vygotsky’s opinions

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on cognitive and linguistic development. The author here poses the issues of

whether language is necessary for thought, whether the nature of language

determines the nature of thought, or whether there is simply a partial dependence

between the two. To answer those issues the author highlights the Linguistic

Relativity Hypothesis, a notion made by Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956), which states

that the force of linguistic habit (structure of the language) influences the way in

which one understands his or her environment. In this particular chapter, the author

outlines Piaget and Vygotsky’s brief but informative insights on the developmental

sequences of stages in cognitive development. This helps to better understand the

later chapter on first language acquisition. For anyone who would like to make an

extended reading on the basic terms and concepts of first language acquisition, I

would recommend to read the chapter 10 (First Language Acquisition) of this book.

In the introductory part of this chapter, the author gives examples and makes

comparisons across languages and then gradually elaborates the acquisition of

phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of an English-speaking

child. The author maintains that even though children do differ in the beginning and

rate of language development, but the order of stages and stages suggested by

theorists seem to remain constant.

In conclusion, even though this book is intended for senior learners, entry level

learners could as well make use of this book through the basic terms and concepts

explained in each topic prior to the investigations made. This book should be a

useful reference as it investigates on a number of theoretical and research attempts

on how language is comprehended, produced and acquired.