The Psychology of Language

Language characterizes one of the most important and pervasive aspects of human behavior. Through both written and vocal means, language allows us to express our thoughts and feelings to others as well as obtaining information from the world around us. Indeed, it would be difficult to imagine the sense of isolation or the probability of surviving in a society whose members are unable to communicate with one another.\ud \ud The intent of this course is to examine various aspects of language behavior from a psychological perspective. After considering some of the evolutionary and biological substrates of language, we'll then look at the underlying processes involved in both perceiving and producing speech, as well as deriving the intended meaning of the speech message itself. As we will discover, some of these comprehension processes rely on prior knowledge of objects and events from the natural environment, while others rely on nonverbal behavior and certain implicit rules of conversational interaction. Lastly, variations in language use will be addressed, not only from the perspective of the child who is attempting to acquire language, but also from individuals who differ in gender, race, and socioeconomic status. The culmination of these various issues will then allow us to consider the relationship between language and thought, and whether one's particular linguistic background shapes the way we think about the world around us