Introduction
Psycholinguisticshastwomainresearchdirections:theresearchdirectionofbehaviorismandtheresearchdirectionofcognitivepsychology.Inthe1950s,psycholinguisticswasmainlyinfluencedbybehavioristpsychologyanddescriptivelinguistictheories.Atthattime,psycholinguistsusedbehavioristperspectivestoexplainpsycholinguisticphenomena.Theybelievethatspeechacts,likeallotherhumanacts,arealsoresponsestostimuli.Theyaretheformation,realizationandchangeofassociations,andtheyareobtainedthroughreinforcement.Inthisway,thetheoryofpsycholinguisticsisbasicallytheconcretemanifestationofbehavioristlearningtheoryinspeechactivities.TherepresentativeofthisresearchdirectionisOsgood.AlthoughhedoesnotexcludemeaningfromthephenomenonoflanguagelikeSkinner,andcitesthemediationprocesstoillustratethemeaningoflanguage,hestillinsiststhatthebehavioristlearningtheorycanexplainspeechacts.Psycholinguisticsisgreatlyinfluencedbymodernlinguistictheories.EspeciallyafterChomsky'sgenerative-transformationgrammarcameintobeingandprevailed,thepsychologycirclesattackedbehavioristlanguagelearningtheorymoreandmore,believingthatbehaviorismcannotexplainmanyphenomenainspeechactivities.
PsychologistsrepresentedbyMillerapplygenerativetransformationgrammartothestudyofmentallanguage,andbelievethatwhatpeoplemasterisnotindividualcomponentsoflanguage,suchasphonemes,wordsandsentences,butasetofrulesSystem,therefore,speechactivitiesarenotresponsestostimuli,butbehaviorsgeneratedandcontrolledbyrules,whicharecreative.Theyalsobelievethatthefocusofpsycholinguisticresearchisnotthedifferentstructuresofvarioushumanlanguages,butthegeneralrulesthatexistatthebottomofvariouslanguages,andstudyhowthesegeneralrulesaretransformedintoaparticularlanguage.
Theproblemsofpsycholinguisticresearchincludetheperceptionandunderstandingofspeech,theproductionofspeech,theacquisitionoflanguage,theneurophysiologicalmechanismofspeech,variousspeechdefects,speechandthinking,andtherelationshipbetweenspeechandemotionandpersonalityandmanymore.Thesolutionoftheseproblemswillplayasignificantroleinthestudyoflearningtheory,thinkingtheory,andchildren'spsychologicaldevelopmenttheory.Italsohasapplicationvaluetotheresearchofartificialintelligencesuchasengineeringpsychology,languageteaching,speechdefectdiagnosisandtreatment,andcomputerlanguagerecognition.
TheresearchofpsycholinguisticshasbeencarriedoutwidelyintheUnitedStates.TheSovietUnion,Britain,France,Germany,theNetherlandsandotherEuropeancountriesalsohavepsychologistsengagedinthiswork,whichischaracterizedbytryingtocombinepsycholinguisticresearchwiththepsychologytraditionofthecountry.
TheresearchworkofpsycholinguisticshasalsobeencarriedoutinChina,mainlyinchildren'slanguageacquisition.BecauseChineseisverydifferentfromotherlanguages,researchinthisareainChinahasgreatertheoreticalandpracticalsignificance.
Cognitivefoundation
CognitivepsychologyisapsychologytrendthatemergedintheWestinthemid-1950sandbecameamajorresearchdirectionofwesternpsychologyinthe1970s..Itstudieshumanhigh-levelmentalprocesses,mainlycognitiveprocesses,suchasattention,perception,representation,memory,thinking,andlanguage.Languageisamanifestationofhumancognitiveability,sopsycholinguisticsmustemphasizeitscognitivebasis.Forexample,cognitivescientistSimon(SimaHe)believesthatcognitivesciencehassixcomponents:inorderofpsychology,linguistics,computerscience,philosophy,neuroscience,andothers(anthropologyanddecisiontheory).Itcanalsobesaidthatbothlinguisticsandpsychologyarebasedoncognition.Thereasonisalsoverysimple,becauseourunderstandingofdiscoursedependsnotonlyonlanguageknowledge,butalsoonotherknowledge,inabroadsense,itiscognition.Miller(1973)oncepointedoutthatinordertouselanguageeffectively,onemusthaveknowledgeinfiveaspects:
1.Phonologicinformationaboutone'sownlanguage.
2.Syntacticinformationaboutsentenceformation.
3.Lexicalinformationaboutthemeaningofwordsandwordcombinations.
Thegrammarofalanguageiscomposedofthesethreeaspectsofinformation,andpeoplewhospeakthislanguageastheirnativelanguagehavetheseaspectsofinformation.Becausereallifeisfullofthesesharedconceptualknowledge,wedon'tneedtoelaborate.Wecalltheseinformationpresuppositions.Theyareattachedtotheutteranceandarerelatedtothecontext.
Itcanbeseenthatinverbalcommunicationactivities,wenotonlyrelyonlanguageknowledge,butalsoonconceptualknowledgeandbeliefsystemknowledge.Duetotheoveremphasisontheroleofpresuppositionandreasoninginspeechunderstanding,inthemid-1970s,aso-called"psycholinguisticswithoutlinguistics"stageappeared:"PsycholinguistscutofftheirandlinguisticsConnectionisabsorbedintothemainstreamofcognitivepsychology"(Tanenhaus1988).Infact,languageknowledgeisalsoanintegralpartofcognition.Withoutlanguageknowledge,youcan’tunderstandanything.Withoutknowledgeofotheraspects,youmighthearitwrong.Bothareindispensable.Sopsycholinguistsquicklyturnedtheirattentiontotheanalysisofgrammaticalrulesandabsorbednutrientsfromcognitivescience.
Researchmethods
Theresearchmethodsofpsycholinguisticshaveborrowedfromthepsychometricsmethodsofpsychologyinmanyplaces.Thismethodismainlytomeasureknowledge,ability,attitudeandpersonalitytendency.Psycholinguisticsputsforwardvarioustheoriesontheobjectsitstudies,suchasthementalprocessoflanguageacquisition,learninganduse,whichmustbeverifiedbysystematicnaturalobservationsorexperimentalmethodsinordertodeterminewhethertheyareefficient.
1.Naturalobservationisthefirstmethodusedinpsycholinguistics,becausesomespeechactsarenaturallyproduced,sowehavetoobservethemwhentheyappear,forexample,howchildrenlearntospeak,weareusinglanguageHowtosaythewrongwordsatthetime.Thefirstcharacteristicofnaturalobservationisnon-interference.Observersmustmakeanobjectiverecordoftheobjectstheyobserve,withoutanysubjectiveelements.Thesecondfeatureistolookforpatternsofthings,tofindouttheobjectivelawsofthingsfromindividual,randombehaviors.Thethirdcharacteristicisdirectness.Intuitionismorereliablethanguessing,butmanymentalactivitiescannotbeintuitive,andinneractivitiesmustbeinferredbasedontheirexternalbehaviors.Thefourthcharacteristicisthatcollectingdataisprotracted,andittakesalotoftimeandenergytofindthepatternofthings.
2.Experimentalmethodisthesecondmethodthatpsycholinguisticsusesmoreoften.Theexperimentalmethodisalsothemethodadoptedbynaturalscience;itisdifferentfromnaturalobservation,whichismainlyreflectedintheconceptandmethodofcontrol(contr01).Theexperimentalmethodrequirescomparativeobservationbetweenanexperimentalgroup(experimentalgroup')andareferencegroup(referencegroup).Anykindofbehavior(suchastheincreaseofvocabulary)istheresultoftheinteractionofvariousfactors.Inordertounderstandthedifferenteffectsofthesefactors,wemustcontroleachfactor,thatis,makethembasicallyintheexperimentalgroupandthereferencegroup.Thesame(forexample,ifwewanttocontrolgender,lettheratioofmaletofemaleinthesetwogroupsberoughlythesame),andmanipulateacertainfactor,thatis,makesystematicchangestoit.Forexample,agehasdifferentlevelsanddevelopments.Stage:children,adolescents,adults...Weuseexperimentalmethodstocomparethevocabularygrowthofdifferentgroups.
Withthedevelopmentofmodernscienceandtechnology,psycholinguisticshasdevelopedmanydistinctiveexperimentalmethodswhenobservingthepsychologicalprocessoflanguage,forexample:(1)Usingthe"online"method,Collectlatency(thatis,reactiontime)datatounderstandthespeedofthesubjects'languageprocessing;inthepast,specialequipmentwasused,butnowitcanbecollectedonanordinarycomputerusingspecialsoftware.(2)Usethemethodofrecallorrecognitiontounderstandhowthestimulusisstoredintheworkingmemoryinordertoobservetheresultsoflanguageprocessing.(3)Adoptthecontrolmethodofthecontrolinputformtointerferewithorevendistortthestimulustounderstandtheeffectofcontextonthereconstructionoflostinformation.(4)Asimpletachistoscope(tachistoscope)wornontheheadwasusedtoobserveeyefixationtounderstandthethinkingactivitiesofthesubjects.Usingthemethodofbinauralexperiments(dichoticexperiments),thesubjectswereallowedtoheardifferentinformationthroughthetwochannelsoftheearphonetounderstandtheprocessofsentencelistening.(5)Usingthemethodofthinkingaloud,letthesubjectsverballyreporttheirthoughtactivityprocesswhencompletinganassignment.(6)Usecomputersimulationtoprogramcertaintheoriesandmodels,andthencomparetheresultsobtainedwiththeresultsofactualexperimentstoverifytheauthenticityofthesetheoriesandmodels.(7)Usingelectro-encephalographicmeasurestodirectlyobservethebrain'sresponsetowordstimuli.
3.Statisticalmethod.Theresultsobtainedbynaturalobservationandexperimentalmethodsmustbereportedobjectively,whichrequirestheuseofstatisticalmethods.Everythingintheworldisfullofuncertainty,sothebasisofstatisticsisprobabilitytheory.Therearetwotypesofstatisticalmethods:oneisdescriptivestatistics.Forexample,theresultsofavotemustbecounted,howmanypeopleagree,howmanypeoplepass,andwhatpercentageofthepassrate?Thefinalgradesofaclassshouldalsobecounted,andtheaveragescoreWhatisit?Whatisthepercentageofpassingrate?Theotherisinferentialstatistics.Ourexperimentsareconductedwithinacertainrange,butthepurposeisnottosimplydescribethesesamples,buttounderstandtheresultsofthesesamples.Whetherithasuniversalsignificanceistoinferthepopulationfromthesample.WeoftenseeP≤oinsomeexperimentalreports.5Thissymbolindicatesthattheexperimenterhasusedthemethodofinferentialstatisticstocalculatethatthechanceoftheexperiment'schanceislessthan5%,anditsresultisreliablein95%ofthecases,soithassignificantmeaning.Thepurposeofourexperimentisnotlimitedtounderstandingtheuniversalityoftheexperiment.Weoftenwanttofurtherunderstandthelaws(structureandpattern)betweenthingsandtherelationshipbetweenmultiplevariables.Thisrequiressomemultivariatestatisticalanalysis(includinganalysisofvariance).,Regressionanalysis,clusteranalysis,multi-dimensionalmeasurementtables,structuralequationmodels,neuralnetworkmethods,etc.).Thesestatisticalmethodsarerelativelycomplicated,andsomeready-madecomputerstatisticalprogramsmustbeused.Thekeytousingstatisticalmethodsliesinmasteringtheirprinciples,knowingwhenandwhatstatisticalmethodsshouldbeused,andpreventingmisuseandabuse.
ResearchScope
Psycholinguisticsisthebranchofpsychologythatstudieshowindividualhumansacquire,understand,andgeneratelanguage.Itstudiesthecharacteristicsofhumanlanguageactivitiesfromtheperspectiveofpsychologicalprocessesandpsychologicalmechanisms.Psycholinguisticsresearchisinterdisciplinary.Firstofall,itusesthestructureandfunctionoflanguageascluestoexplorethepsychologicalprocessandmechanismofhumanspeechactivities,andthestructureandfunctionoflanguagearetheresearchobjectsoflinguistics.Secondly,intheprocessofstudyingthepsychologicalprocessesandmechanismsofspeechactivities,thestructureandspecialfunctionsofthehumanbrainmustbeinvolved.Medicalhistoryanalysis.Finally,humanspeechactivitiesoccuranddevelopinthesocialenvironment.Complexsocialfactorsdirectlydeterminethechangesinthelanguagesystemandhaveanimportantimpactonspeechactivities.Therefore,theresearchonthepsychologicalmechanismofhumanspeechactivitiesnotonlydependsonthetheoriesandmethodsofpsychology,butalsoabsorbsandadoptsthetheoriesandmethodsinmanyfieldssuchaslinguistics,sociology,physiology,clinicalmedicine,computerscience,mathematicsandsoon.
History
TheancientGreekphilosophersAristotleandPlatoexpresseddifferentviewsontherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthinking.ModernmodernEuropeanscholarsF.Bacon(1561～)1626),R.DescartesinFrance(1596～1650),J.LockeinEngland(1632～1704),WFHumboldtandL.WittgensteininGermany(1889～1951)alsodiscussedlanguageandbehaviorAndpsychologicalrelationship.BritishbiologistC.Darwin(1809～1882)observedtheevolutionoflanguageandchildren’slanguagedevelopmentfromtheoriginofspecies;GermanpsychologistsWTPleyel(1841～1897)andW.Stern(1871～1938)Tostudyhowchildrenlearntospeak;FrenchpathologistP.Broca(1824~1880)andGermanC.Vernick(1848~1905)initiallydeterminedthepartsofthelefthemisphereresponsibleforlanguage.Thesepeoplemadepreparationsforpsycholinguistics.AmericanscholarsestablishedtheLinguisticsandPsychologyCommitteein1952,andpublished"Psycholinguistics:AnOverviewofTheoriesandResearchIssues"in1954.Thismarkedtheofficialbirthofpsycholinguistics.ThefirstgenerationofAmericanpsycholinguistsconductedresearchundertheinfluenceofbehavioristpsychology,structuralistlinguisticsandinformationtheory.C.E.Osgood(1916～1991)pointedoutthatlanguagecanplayaroleintransmissionbetweenstimulationandresponse.Forexample,whenyousay"Thewolfiscoming,"everyonebecomesalert.Butpeopleareonlyafraidofwolveswhentheycome.Iffalsereportshavebeenmadeseveraltimes,eveniftheysay"wolvesarecoming",peoplewillnotbeafraidanymore.Itcanbeseenthatwordsandfactsdonothaveexactlythesameeffect.G.Miller(1920～2012)appliedinformationtheorytolanguageresearch,andfoundthatwordsappearwithacertainfrequencyindiscourse,whichcanberepresentedbyprobability.Buthowpeopleuselanguagecannotbeexplainedbyinformationtheoryalone.Inthemid-1950s,withtheriseofN.Chomsky'stransformationalgrammar,thesecondgenerationofpsycholinguistscameintobeing.Thesescholarshaveobservedsomedeaf-mutechildrengrowingupinanexperimentalenvironment.Theybelievethattheycanusegesturestoformnominalandverbalphraseswithouttheinstructionoftheirmothers,andformaseriesofthesetwophrases.ThismaybeduetoNaturallanguageskills.Butlaterpeoplethoughtthatthepsychologymodelandthelinguisticmodeldidnotcorrespondtoeachother.Scholarsrealizedthatpsycholinguisticresearchshouldnotbelimitedtoverifyingwhetheracertaingrammaticalmodeliscorrect,butshouldestablishitsownindependentsystem,sothethirdgenerationofpsycholinguisticsemerged.Theydisapproveofabstractanalysisofthespeechprocess,butemphasizetheexperimentinthelanguageenvironmenttodetecttheprocessofthinkingandcommunication.
Languageacquisition
Psycholinguisticsoftenuse"languageacquisition"insteadof"languagelearning"inthepast.Itisbelievedthatwhychildrencanlearntheirmothertonguewithinafewyearsisbasedonthebehaviorist"learningtheory".AmericanscholarsChomskyandD.McNeill(1933~)believedthatthiscomplexphenomenoncanonlybeexplainedbyassumingthatchildrenhaveaninnatelanguageacquisitionmechanism.Therearemanybasicgrammaticalconcepts,suchassentencesubjectandpredicate,nounsandmodifiersinnominalphrases,predicateverbsandobjectsinverbalphrases,etc.,whichareallderivedthroughthismechanism,ratherthanimitatinglearning..However,althoughinbornistshavesomeopinions,theyignoretheeffectofobjectiveenvironmentonlanguageacquisition.
SwisspsychologistJ.Piaget(1896~1980)studiedthedevelopmentofchildren'sintelligencethroughouthislife.In1975,hecametoParisattheageof80tostartadebatewithChomsky.Pointoutthatwhatisbornwithisnotlanguageability,butbroadercognitiveability.Cognitiveabilityenableschildrentoobtainvariousconceptsfromtheobjectiveworld,andthengrouptheseconceptsintoseveralseries,whichisthelanguageability.Heassertedthatlanguageskillsaregraduallydeveloped,notbornwiththem.Earlylanguageacquisitionresearchersfocusedonhowchildren’slanguageisgraduallydevelopedinstructure.Onewordusedbychildrenatthebeginningisequivalenttoonesentence("Mom"means"Iwantmymothertohug","Iwanttoeatmilk",or"Mom,lookatit.""),usingtwowordsasasentence("tosugar","tohug","topuppies",youcanomitthesubject"I"),andfinallymasterthegeneraladultgrammar.
However,undertheinfluenceofcognitivepsychologyandfunctionalgrammar,thefocusofresearchhasshiftedtohowtoacquiremeaningandfunction,whatarethecharacteristicsoflanguagecommunicationbetweenadultsandchildren,andwhatmethodsdochildrenneedtolearn,Howdoeslanguagedevelopmentandcognitivedevelopmentaffecteachother,andwhatcommonlawsdochildrenwhospeakdifferentlanguageshaveintheprocessoflearningChinese,etc.,sothescopeisexpanded.TherecognitionofspeechandtheoccurrenceofspeechWhenusinglanguage,peoplehavetounderstandtheother'swords.Thisisthediscernmentofspeech;theyhavetobeabletospeak,whichistheoccurrenceofspeech.
Psychologybelievesthatthebasicunitofdiscoursecontentisproposition.Tounderstandtheotherparty'swords,oneneedstoknowwhatthepropositionis,howmanyelementsareinit,andwhereeachelementistheboundary.Since1965,AmericanscholarsM.Garrettandothershaveoftenusedthe"KataResearchMethod",thatis,deliberatelyinsertingthesoundof"Kata"(indicatedbyasterisksbelow)inasentencewherethereshouldnotbeapause,toseewhatthelistenerhasreaction.Forexample,intwosentenceswithdifferentstructuresbutthesamewordsinthesecondhalf,insertthesoundof"Kata":
Asaresultoftheirinvention'sinfluenceth■companywasgivenanaward.(Becauseoftheirinvention,Thecompanyhasbeenrewarded.)
Thechairmanwhosemethodsstillinfluenceth■companywasgivenanaward.Whenrecording,thetwosentences"Kata"areinsertedbetweentheandcompany.Butthelistener'srecognitionresultisverysurprising.Theythinkthatthekatasoundoccursbetweeninfluenceandtheinthefirstsentence,andbetweencompanyandwasinthesecondsentence.Inthisway,whenobedient,peopledividethesentenceintoanumberofphrasesorclausesthatexpressthepropositiontounderstand,anditisnotaffectedbytheinsertedkitchensound.Scholarshavedifferentopinionsonwhatpeoplerelyontoestablishpropositions.Somepeoplethinkthatitmainlydependsonsyntacticknowledge,andsomepeoplethinkthatsemanticsplaysadecisiverole.Infact,bothareindispensable.
Thereisalotofdebateabouthowspeechoccurs.Howdoesthehumanbraingenerateideas?Howtoturnideasintowords?
Howtospeakwordsthroughthepronunciationorgan?Thisisacomplexpsychophysiologicalprocess,anditisdifficulttodirectlyobserveit.Thecommonlyusedmethodistostudysomeincompletedata,suchasadultspeecherrors(stuttering,wrongwords),thegrammaticalcharacteristicsofchildren'slanguagelearning,andtheincompleteandconfusedspeechofpatientswithaphasia.Itisgenerallybelievedthattheoccurrenceofspeechhastwoaspects:programmingandexecutionoftheprogramaftertheformationoftheidea.However,itisnotoneaftertheother,butwhilecompilingtheprogram,theprogramisexecutedatthesametime.However,thedetailsneedtobefurtherexplored.
Languageunderstanding
"Languageunderstanding"isatopicdiscussedinpsycholinguistics.Itsresearchincludes:(1)speechperception;(2)vocabularyextraction;(3)sentenceprocessing;(4)Discoursecomprehension.Inshort,itisthestudyofhowpeopleunderstandlanguage.
Firstofall,"speechperception"involves"researchmethodsofspeechperception","conditionsofspeechperception","speechsignalgenerationandacousticcharacteristicsofspeech","auditoryrecognitionofvowelsandconsonants"",""Continuousspeechrecognition","perceptionofwrittenlanguage"and"speechperceptionmodel"sevenaspectsofresearch.Theearliestresearchmethodoflanguageperceptionwastorecordandanalyzetheoutputinformationoflanguagewiththe"vocoder"inventedbyH.Dudley(1939).Later,theprincipleofmaking"soundrecorders"promptedtheemergenceanddevelopmentof"soundspectrograms".Thisisbasedonthedistributionofsoundfrequencies,specificallyusedtoanalyzespeechsignalsduringthe"WorldWarII"period.Inthe1960sand1970s,influencedbyacousticphoneticsandpronunciationphonetics,"electromyography"and"electrokymography"appeared,whichwereusedtorecordmusclecontractions.Theresultingvoltagechangesandchangesintheairflowofthemouthandnasalcavitywhenspeaking.Ofcourse,thelatestresearchmethodis"cineradiography",whichpeopleusetorecordthedynamicchangesofpronunciation.Intheresearchoflanguageperceptionconditions,"context"isthemostimportantconditionthataffectsspeechperception.Theresearchonlanguagesignalgenerationismostlyrelatedto"acousticcharacteristics"and"auditoryrecognitionofvowelsandconsonants".Thisisarelativelycomplexstudy,astudyof"phoneme"listeninganddistinguishingwithEnglishlanguageastheresearchobject.Anotherareaoflanguageperceptionresearchisthestudyof"writtenlanguagecomprehension".Thisinvolvestheexplorationof"visualsensing","letterrecognition","wordmeaningdetermination","informationmemory"and"informationorganization".Ofcourse,themostimportantfieldoflanguageperceptionresearchisundoubtedlytheresearchof"speechperceptionmodel".Sofar,the"MotorTheory"proposedbyLiberman(1967,1970)andhiscolleagues,andthe"Analysis-by-Synthesismodel"proposedbyStevens(1960)),the"FuzzyLogicalModel"proposedbyMarcelo(Hassaro,1987,1989),the"CohortModel"proposedbyMaslenandWilson,andElman(Elman,1984,1986)The"TraceModel"proposedby)hasbecomethefivemajormodelsoflanguageperceptionresearch,anditisthefiveimportant"model"theoriesthataffectpsycholinguisticresearchinlanguageunderstanding.
Secondly,intheresearchof"vocabularyextraction",itsexplorationmainlyfocusesonthe"basicelementsofwords","theresearchmethodsofmentalvocabulary","factorsaffectingvocabularyextractionandorganization"and""Vocabularyextractionmodel"andotherfouraspects.Thestudyofvocabularyextractionisinseparablefromtheanalysisofthebasicelementsofwords,becausethebasicelementsofwordsaredirectlyrelatedtothemeaningofwords.Theresearchmethodofmentalvocabularyisdirectlyrelatedtothestudyoflanguagecomprehension,andisanimportantpartofthestudyoflanguagecomprehension.Theresearchmethodsofmentalvocabularymainlyinclude"reactiontimeexperiment","naming/lexicalretrieval"and"speecherroranalysis".Amongthem,"speecherroranalysis"and"naming"arethetwomostimportantmethodsforstudyingvocabularyextraction.Peoplecanfindouthowpeopleunderstandthemeaningofwordsorextractlinguisticinformationthroughverbalerrorssuchas"lipphenomenon","wordtransposition",and"failure"andtheanalysisoftheerrorscaused.Intheresearchof"factorsaffectingvocabularyextractionandorganization",theresearchfocusesonthreeaspects:"lexicaleffect","semanticeffect"and"contextualeffect".Theresearchonthevocabularyextractionmodelisafruitfulresearch.Sofar,the"SerialSearchModels"(SerialSearchModels)representedbythe"AutomaticSearchModel"ofForster(Forster,1976)vocabularyextractionandthe"VocabularyGenerationModel"proposedbyMorton(1969,1979)"ParallelAccessModel"representedby"ParallelAccessModel"hasbecomethetwomainstreamofvocabularyextractionresearch.Inparticular,Morton's"VocabularyGenerationModel"providesimportantthinkingcluesforlaterresearchonvocabularyextractioninthestudyof"lexicalactivation".Inaddition,anotheronetojointheranksofthe"parallelextractionmodel"isthe"connectionistmodel".Thisisanimportanttheoryofexplanatoryvocabularyextractionproposedbyconnectionistsinpsychology,philosophyandcomputerscience.Connectionismbelievesthatthefinalunderstandingofawordiscompletedfromtheincrementalconnectionof"input"→"feature"→"letter"→"word"ofinformation.Inadditiontothe"connectionistmodel",thereisalsoanauditorywordrecognitionmodelcalledthe"CohortModel".MarslenandWilson(Marslen-Wilson,1987)proposedthatwhenapersonhearsaword,allphoneticneighborsofthewordwillbeactivated.Ofcourse,nomatterwhatkindoftheoryitis,itisdifficulttoapplytoexplainallthecomplexprocessesoflanguageunderstanding.However,the"activation"theoryemphasizedbyevery"model"isstillatopicwithuniversalsignificanceandworthyoffurtherresearchandexplorationforexplainingthecomplexprocessoflanguageunderstanding.
Thirdly,sentencecomprehensionisanimportantpartoflanguagecomprehensionresearch.Researchinthisfieldisdividedinto:(1)thenatureofsentencestructure;(2)syntacticprocessing;(3)sentencedecompositionandsyntacticambiguity;(4)sentencedecompositionmodel;(5)languageprocessingandmemory;(6)Processingmodelofsentencecomprehension.Psycholinguisticsbelievethatthereasonwhypeoplecanunderstandlanguageisbecausetheinformationreceiverandtheinformationexportersharecommongrammaticalrulesor"conventions."However,thestudyofsentencecomprehensionisnotsosimple.Italsoinvolvesthesurfacestructureanddeepstructureofsentences.Justtakethesentence"It'stoocoldhere"saidbyAasanexample.IfBunderstandstheliteralmeaningofthesentence,thenheprobablyhasn'tunderstoodthetruemeaningofA.Therefore,syntacticprocessingisthesecondissuethatpsycholinguisticsdiscussesinlanguageunderstanding.Theresearchonsyntacticprocessinginvolvesfourissues:"therelationshipbetweensurfacestructureanddeepstructure","therelationshipbetweenlanguageabilityandpragmaticability","decompositionofsentencestructure"and"processingofclauses".ItmainlyexploreshowpeoplepassSyntacticprocessingtounderstandcompoundsentencesandtheirmeanings.Intheresearchofsentencedecompositionandsyntacticambiguity,psycholinguisticsfocusonthediscussionof"partialambiguity"and"permanentambiguity".Sincethe"fuzziness"oflanguageisanessentialfeatureofnon-artificiallanguage,theuseof"sentencedecompositionmodel"tostudytheunderstandingoffuzzysentenceshasbecomeamajormethodofpsycholinguisticresearchonlanguageunderstanding.Intheresearchofdecomposingfuzzysentences,Cleason(J.B.Cleason,1998)divideshismodelsintotwotypes:oneisthe"GardenPathModel",andtheotheristhe"CompletionStrivingModel".Thegardenpathmodeldiscussestheprocessofsentencecomprehensionbasedontheprincipleof"structurefirst"or"wordfirst".However,tounderstandsentencescorrectly,sentencememoryisalsoanimportantpart.Inthisrespect,psycholinguistsfocustheirattentiononthethreeaspectsof"memoryofmeaningandsurfacestructure","semanticreasoningandsentencememory",and"propositionandsentencememory".Ofcourse,tounderstandhowpeoplememorizelanguageinformation,the"processingmodelofsentencecomprehension"isthefoundationofthestudyoflanguagecomprehension.Sofar,the"perceptionstrategy"proposedbyFodor(1974)andothers,the"non-conversionstrategy"proposedbyBever(1970),andthe"surfacelayer"proposedbyKimball(1973)The"7PrinciplesofStructuralSyntaxAnalysis"andthetheoryof"EnemaMachine"proposedbyFrazier(Frazier,1978)havebecomethefourmainmodelsofsentencecomprehensionandprocessing(22).EspeciallyKimbauer's"7Principles"(23),whichbasicallysummarizesthegeneralprocessandresearchideasofsentencecomprehension.
Fourth,thestudyof"discoursecomprehension"canbasicallybesummarizedintothreeaspects:(1)thestudyofdiscoursecoherenceandcomprehensionstrategies;(2)thestudyofdiscoursememory;(3)Researchondiscourseprocessing.Asfarasthestudyofdiscoursecoherenceisconcerned,the"上指"(anaphora)and"下指"(cataphor)proposedbyHallidayandHasan(Halliday&Hasan,1976)havebecomeamajorthemeinthestudyofdiscoursecoherence.Inthestudyofspeechperception,Jakimik&Glenberg(1990)alsoregard"up-pointing"and"down-pointing"asimportantprerequisitesoflanguageunderstanding.Butwhetheritis"upwardpointing"or"downwardpointing",itisabouttherelationshipbetweenthecloseconnectionofsentencesandthecoherenceofthetext.Inthestudyofdiscoursecomprehensionstrategies,the"known/unknownstrategies","directmatchingstrategies","bridgingstrategies"and"reviews"ofdiscourseinformationproposedbyClark&Haviland(1977)Knowninformationstrategy"hasbecomeanimportantthinkingthreadfordiscussingdiscoursecomprehension.Regardingtheexplorationofdiscoursememory,the"organizationalplanningframework"ofthehumancognitivesystemproposedbyBartlett(1932)stillaffectsthecurrentpsycholinguisticresearchondiscoursememory.Hebelievesthatmemoryisactive,creative,andplanned.Asfarasdiscoursememoryisconcerned,"proposition"and"reasoning"havebecomethecenterofresearch.Psycholinguisticsbelievethatnotonlytherecognitionoftopicsandthecombinationofsentencesarecloselyrelatedtodiscoursememory,butdiscoursecomprehensionalsocontributestodiscoursememory.Intheresearchofdiscourseprocessing,"discourseprocessingmodel"hasbecomethecentralcontentoftheresearchondiscoursecomprehension.Suchas"contextmodel","connectionismmodel","constructionandcombinationmodel",etc.,allexplaintheprocessofdiscoursecomprehensionfromvariousangles.
Languageandthinking
B.L.WolfeoftheUnitedStatesbelievesthatlanguageis"theshaperofthought",itdeterminespeople'sthinking,andevendeterminespeople'sviewoftheworld.TheSovietUnionЛ.С.Vigotsky(1896～1934)andPiagetofSwitzerlandbelievedthatthinkingprecededlanguageandthatthedevelopmentofchildren’scognitiveabilitieshadarestrictiveeffectonthedevelopmentofspeech.Inordertolearnthe"possessive"inlanguage(suchasmine,yoursinEnglish).Experimentsshowthatpeople'sperception(numberofdistinctions,shapes,colors),cognitivestructure(recognitionofidentity,opposition,temporalandspatialrelationships,causality),andsocialcategories(suchaskinshipcategories)havearestrictiveeffectonlanguage.In1969,AmericanscholarsB.BerlinandP.Kayeconductedasurveyon20languagesandfoundthatalthoughtherearemoreorlesscolorwordsinvariouslanguages,thebasiccolorwordsarelimitedto11(black,white,red,Yellow,green,blue,brown,purple,pink,orange,gray).Ifthereareonlytwocolorwordsinalanguage,theymustbe"black"(or"dark")and"white"(or"bright"),Ifthereareonlythree,itmustbe"black,white,andred".E.Rosie’sexperimentsintheUnitedStateshaveprovedthatthesewordsrepresentthemostprominentcolorsonthechromatogram.HetaughttheDanipeopleofNewGuineatolearncolorwordsthatarenotavailableintheirnativelanguage,andfoundthattheylearnthebasiccolorwordsthefastest.Itcanbeseenthatthehumansensorysystemhasarestrictiveeffectonlanguagelearning.Inaddition,theSovietUnionAPLulia(1902～1977)andAHLeontev(1903～1979)alsoarguedthatalthoughconsciousactivitiescannotbeseparatedfromlanguage,thesourceofconsciousnessistheinteractionbetweenmanandtheobjectiveworld,notlanguage..
Physiologicalbasis
Islanguageuniquetohumansduetothespecialphysiologicalbasisofhumans?
SomebiologiststrainchimpanzeestolearnhumansignsorsymbolsLanguagehasmadesomeprogress,butitcannotbeprovedthattheseanimalshavethesamecognitivefunctionsashumansinusinglanguage.StudiesbyE.LennbergerintheUnitedStatesandWPenfieldinCanadahaveshownthatthehumanbrainandthelanguageusedbyhumansaretheresultofhundredsofmillionsofyearsofevolution.Inmostpeople,thelefthemisphereofthebrainisresponsibleforlanguage,andtherighthemisphereismainlyresponsiblefornon-languageinformation,whichisslightlyrelatedtolanguageunderstanding.Inthelefthemisphere,thefrontpartiscloselyrelatedtosyntax,andthebackpartisdeeplyrelatedtosemantics.Mostpeoplerelyontherighthemispheretomanagemusicinformation,butmusiciansusethelefthemisphere.AmericanT.Beverandothersbelievethatthelefthemispheremaynotbespecializedinlanguage,buthastheabilitytoprocessinformationandlogically.Therefore,theyarguethatthehumanbraindoesnotnecessarilyhaveaspecializedlanguagemechanism.Thisissueisstillunderdiscussion,andanewdiscipline(neurolinguistics)hasemerged.
Issuesdiscussed
Languageacquisition:Psycholinguisticsoftenuse"languageacquisition"insteadof"languagelearning"inthepast.Theybelievethatwhychildrencanlearntheirmothertonguewithinafewyearsisjustbasedonthebehaviorist"learningtheory",sayingthatitispureimitation,whichmakesnosense.AmericanscholarsChomskyandD.McNeill(1933~)believethatonlyassumingthatchildrenhaveaninnatelanguageacquisitionmechanismcanexplainthiscomplexphenomenon.Therearemanybasicgrammaticalconcepts,suchasthesubjectandpredicateofthesentence,thenounsandmodifiersinthenominalphrase,thepredicateverbandtheobjectintheverbalphrase,etc.,whichareallobtainedthroughthismechanism,ratherthanimitatinglearning..
Althoughinnateistshavesomeinsights,theyignoretheroleoftheobjectiveenvironmentinlanguageacquisition.SwisspsychologistJ.Piaget(1896~1980)studiedthedevelopmentofchildren'sintelligencethroughouthislife.In1975,hecametoParisattheageof80tostartadebatewithChomsky.Hebelievesthatwhatisbornwithisnotlanguageability,butbroadercognitiveability.Cognitiveabilityenableschildrentoobtainvariousconceptsfromtheobjectiveworld,andthengrouptheseconceptsintoseries,whichisthelanguageability.Heassertedthatlanguageskillsaregraduallydeveloped,notbornwiththem.
Earlylanguageacquisitionresearchersfocusedonhowchildren’slanguageisgraduallydevelopedinstructure.Forexample,achild’sinitialuseofawordisequivalenttoasentence("Mother"canmean"Iwantmymothertohug","ITotakemilk"or"Mom,lookatit"),andlaterusetwowordsasasentence("tosugar","tohug","toapuppy",youcanomitthesubject"I"),andfinallymasterCommongrammarforadults.However,undertheinfluenceofcognitivepsychologyandfunctionalgrammar,thefocusofresearchhasshiftedtohowmeaningandfunctionareacquired,whatarethecharacteristicsoflanguagecommunicationbetweenadultsandchildren,whatmethodschildrenusetolearn,languagedevelopmentandcognitiveabilityHowdevelopmentinfluenceseachother,andwhatcommonrulesdochildrenwhospeakdifferentlanguageshaveintheprocessoflearningChinese,etc.,sothescopeisexpanded.
TherecognitionofspeechandtheoccurrenceofspeechWhenusinglanguage,peoplehavetounderstandeachother'swords.Thisisthediscernmentofspeech;theyhavetobeabletospeak,whichistheoccurrenceofspeech.Fromtheperspectiveofpsychology,thebasicunitofdiscoursecontentisproposition.Tounderstandtheotherparty'swords,onemustknowitsproposition,howmanycomponentsareinit,andwhereeachcomponentistheboundary.Since1965,AmericanscholarsM.Garrettandothershaveoftenusedthe"KataResearchMethod",thatis,deliberatelyinsertingthesoundof"Kata"(indicatedbyasterisksbelow)whereasentenceshouldnotbepaused.Whatreaction.Forexample,insertthesoundof"Kata"intwosentenceswithdifferentstructuresbutthesamewordsinthesecondhalf:①Asaresultoftheirinvention'sinfluencethe*companywasgivenanaward.(Becauseoftheirinvention,thecompanywonanaward.)②Thechairmanwhosemethodsstillinfluencethe*companywasgivenanaward.(Theonewhofiguredoutawaytohelpthecompany’schairmanwontheaward.)Whentherecordingwasplayed,thesoundofthetwosentences"Kata"wasinsertedbetweentheandcompany.Buttheresultofthelistener'srecognitionisverysurprising,becausetheythinkthatthekatasoundoccursbetweeninfluenceandtheinthefirstsentence,andbetweencompanyandwasinthesecondsentence.Itcanbeseenfromthisthatwhenlistening,peopleunderstandthesentencebydividingitintoseveralphrasesorclausesthatexpresstheproposition,anditisnotaffectedbythenoiseinserted.However,scholarshavedifferentopinionsonwhatpeoplerelyontoestablishpropositions.Somepeoplethinkthatitmainlydependsonsyntacticknowledge,whileothersthinkthatsemanticsplayadecisiverole.Infact,bothareindispensable.
Thereisalotofdebateabouthowspeechoccurs.Howdoesthehumanbraingenerateideas?Howtoturnideasintowords?Howtoutterthewordsthroughthepronunciationorgans?Thisisacomplexpsychophysiologicalprocess,anditisdifficulttoobservedirectly.Thecommonlyusedmethodistostudysomeincompletedata,suchasadultspeecherrors(stuttering,wrongwords),thegrammaticalcharacteristicsofchildren'slanguagelearning,andtheincompleteandconfusedspeechofpatientswithaphasia.Itisgenerallybelievedthattheoccurrenceofspeechhastwoaspects:programmingandexecutionoftheprogramaftertheformationoftheidea.However,itisnotoneaftertheother,butwhilecompilingtheprogram,theprogramisexecutedatthesametime.However,thedetailsneedtobefurtherexplored.Languageandthinking:AmericanB.L.Wolfbelievesthatlanguageisthe"shaperofthought",itdeterminespeople'sthinking,andevendeterminespeople'sviewoftheworld.TheSovietUnionЛ.С.Vigotsky(1896～1934)andPiagetofSwitzerlandbelievedthatthinkingprecededlanguageandthatthedevelopmentofchildren’scognitiveabilitieshadarestrictiveeffectonthedevelopmentofspeech.Inordertolearnthe"possessive"inlanguage(suchasmine,yoursinEnglish).Experimentshaveshownthatpeople'sperception(numberofdistinctions,shapes,colors),cognitivestructure(recognitionofidentity,opposition,temporalandspatialrelations,causality),andsocialcategories(suchaskinshipcategories)havearestrictiveeffectonlanguage.In1969,AmericanscholarsB.BerlinandP.Kayeconductedasurveyon20languagesandfoundthatalthoughtherearemoreorlesscolorwordsinvariouslanguages,thebasiccolorwordsarelimitedto11(black,white,red,Yellow,green,blue,brown,purple,pink,orange,gray),andifthereareonlytwocolorwordsinalanguage,itmustbe"black"(or"dark")and"white"(or"bright")Ifthereareonlythree,itmustbe"black,white,andred".E.Rosie’sexperimentsintheUnitedStateshaveprovedthatthesewordsrepresentthemostprominentcolorsonthechromatogram.HetaughttheDanipeopleofNewGuineatolearncolorwordsthatarenotavailableintheirnativelanguage,andfoundthattheylearnthebasiccolorwordsthefastest.Itcanbeseenthatthehumansensorysystemhasarestrictiveeffectonlanguagelearning.Inaddition,theSovietUnionAPLulia(1902～1977)andAHLeontiev(1903～1979)alsoarguedthatalthoughconsciousactivitiescannotbeseparatedfromlanguage,therootofconsciousnessistheinteractionbetweenmanandtheobjectiveworld,notLanguage.
Thephysiologicalbasisoflanguage:Islanguageuniquetohumansbecauseofthespecialphysiologicalbasisofhumans?Somebiologistshavetrainedchimpanzeestolearnhumansignlanguageorsymboliclanguageandhavemadesomeprogress,buttheycannotprovethattheseanimalshavethesamecognitivefunctionsashumansinusinglanguage.
StudiesbyE.LeonbergintheUnitedStatesandW.PenfieldinCanadahaveshownthatthehumanbrainandthelanguageusedbyhumansaretheresultofhundredsofmillionsofyearsofevolution.Inmostpeople,thelefthemisphereofthebrainisresponsibleforlanguage,andtherighthemisphereismainlyforinformationotherthanlanguage,whichisonlyslightlyrelatedtolanguageunderstanding.Inthelefthemisphere,thefrontpartiscloselyrelatedtosyntax,andthebackpartisdeeplyrelatedtosemantics.Mostpeoplerelyontherighthemispheretomanagemusicinformation,butmusiciansusethelefthemisphere.T.BeverandothersintheUnitedStatesbelievethatthelefthemispheremaynotbededicatedtolanguage,butonlyhastheabilitytoprocessinformationandlogically.Therefore,theyarguethatthehumanbraindoesnotnecessarilyhaveamechanismdedicatedtolanguage.Thisissueisstillunderdiscussion,andanewdiscipline(neurolinguistics)hasemerged.
Applicationandcontribution
Psycholinguisticshasbeenappliedtocommunicationtechnology(tostudythetransmission,perceptionandunderstandingofinformation),medicine(tostudythecausesandtreatmentofaphasiaandneurosis)Andartificialintelligenceresearch(discusshowtosimulatethelanguagefunctionofthehumanbrain).Butitsmostimportantuseisinteaching(includingearlychildhoodteaching,foreignlanguageteaching,languageteachingforthedeafanddumb,etc.).Itspurposeistofindoutasetofeffectiveteachingtheoriesandmethodsaccordingtodifferentspecificsituations.Modernlinguisticspaysattentiontotheformationoflanguageabilityontheonehand(hencegenerativegrammar),andontheotherhandpaysattentiontothestudyoflanguageunderspecificconditions(hencesociolinguistics).Psycholinguisticshasbothofthesetwocharacteristics.Itstudiesthedevelopmentofchildren’scognitiveabilities,theinterrelationshipsofvariousabilitiesinlanguage,logic,andmathematicsduringadolescence,thecharacteristicsofspeakingabilityandreadingability,andtherelationshipbetweenthem,etc.Manyimprovements.
Someschoolsofmodernlinguisticstalkabouttheoriesbutignoreverification,andsomedoinvestigationswithoutrigoroustheories.Psycholinguisticshashypothesesandverifications,soitiseye-catching.However,investigatinghighlyintelligentorganismsinthelaboratoryisstilldifficulttoachievepredeterminedgoals.However,inthebroadfieldoflinguistics,psycholinguisticsisalreadyadisciplinewithmorenaturalscientificcharacteristics.
Developmentprospects
OverviewoftheresearchstatusofpsycholinguisticsintheUnitedStates,Germany,Russia,andChina,althoughGermanpsycholinguisticscholars(suchasJohannesEngelkamp)andformerSovietUnionscholarsVygotskyandLeontiev,China'sGuiShichunandothersalldiscussedrelevantissuesinpsycholinguisticsfromtheperspectiveoftheirmothertongue(German,Russian,Chinese).However,mostoftheresearchisstillbasedontheworkdonebyAmericanpsycholinguistsusingEnglishastheresearchobject,andtheresearchbeyondtheresearchframeworkofAmericanpsycholinguisticsisnotyetobvious.Especiallyinthein-depthstudyoftherelationshipbetween"mentalessence"and"languageunderstanding",morein-depthexplorationisneeded.
First,takethedifferenceinlanguagebehaviorbetween"secondlanguage"and"firstlanguage"learnersasanexample.Intermsoftheunderstandingofwordsandsentences,theprocessesandmethodsofinformationprocessingandlanguagecomprehensionofBritishandAmericanpeopleareobviouslydifferentfromthoseofpeoplelearningEnglishinothercountries.JusttaketheunderstandingofthenounphraseTheAmericanDreamasanexample.The"conceptualconnection"or"idealassociation"thatappearsinthemindsofBritishandAmericanpeoplewhentheyhearthisphraseisquitedifferentfromthe"connection"or"association"thatappearsinthemindsofChineselearnersofEnglish.Ifsomeonesays"thisisduetoculturaldifferences",thenhowdoes"culture"affectpeople'slanguageunderstanding?Letustakethephenomenonof"morphemetransposition"or"wordtransposition"whichisconcernedbylinguisticsandpsycholinguisticsasanexample.InthewordsoftheBritishandAmericans,theysometimesrefertocarparkasparkark,butitisdifficultfortheChinesetomakesuch"mistakes."Thisiswhy?Itseemsthattoexplainthesephenomena,psycholinguisticsstillhavealotofworktodo.
Second,languageperception,languageproduction,andlanguageunderstandingareallcloselyrelatedtolanguageacquisition.WeknowthatthemothertongueofboththeUnitedStatesandAustraliaisEnglish.However,the"Icometoday"spokenbyAustraliansisoftenheardbyAmericansas"Icometodie";manysouthernersalsodonotunderstandthe"Icometoday"spokenbyBeijingers.ThisiswhyWoolencloth?Thisnotonlyinvolvesthestudyof"phonetics"and"dialects",butalsoprovidesanotherroomfordevelopmentinpsycholinguistics.Mr.ZhaoYuanrunisamasterofdialectresearch,andWuTiepingisamasterofresearchon"fuzzylinguistics"andChineseetymology.However,althoughpsycholinguisticshasmentionedthe"FuzzyLogicalModel"intheresearchofspeechperception,ithasnotyetdiscussedthe"fuzzylogicmodel".In-depthexplorationoftheacquisitionandperceptionof"fuzzylanguage".Totalkaboutthedevelopmentofpsycholinguistics,thiscannotbutberegardedasanother"placeofuse".
Third,the"behaviorlanguage"ofhumanbeingsissimilaranddifferent.Inthisregard,wecan’thelpasking,“WhydosomeAmericanswhoarevisitingChinaforthefirsttimethinkthattheChinesearepreparingfora“war”whentheyseeaChinesedoing“TaiChi”whileexercisingonthestreetinthemorning?Inaddition,“cry”.And"laugh"isalsoalanguage,anditisalsoaformoflanguageusedbyalmostallcultures.Sohowdopeoplelearntouseandunderstandthistypeof"non-literallanguage"?Whydothemovementsof"nodding"inthevastmajorityofCountrymeans"agree"or"agree",butinsomecountriesitmeans"disagree"or"disagree"?Thisundoubtedlyprovidesanideaforfuturepsycholinguisticresearch.
Fourth,manyresearchresultsofpsycholinguisticshavehigh"application"valueforguidinglanguagepractice,languageanalysisandlanguageresearch.Forexample:the"activation"theoryproposedbypsycholinguisticsintheresearchof"mentalvocabulary"Ithasaveryhighguidingsignificanceinlanguageteaching,butunfortunately,psycholinguistshavenotimetopublicizeandpromotethevalueofitstheoreticalapplications.
Inshort,psycholinguisticsshoulddevelopintoAnindependentnewdisciplinethatcannotonlyintegratepsychologyandlinguisticsresearch,butisdifferentfrompsychologyandlinguisticsresearch,italsoneedstodeepentheresearchofpeople'sthinkingandmind.ItistruethattheresearchofpsycholinguisticsThe"object"islanguage,buttheessenceoftheresearchisnotonlythepsychologicalmechanismconcernedbypsychologyorthesurfacestructureanddeepstructureoflanguageconcernedbylinguistics,butalsotheoperatingprocessandoperatingrulesofthelanguageuser'spsychologicalmechanismandincludingPhilosophyandalllanguage-relatedthinkingphenomena.Webelievethatonthebasisofnearlyahundredyearsofpsychologicalandlinguisticresearch,andinspiredbythethousandsofyearsofresearchonthe"heart"ofmankind,psycholinguisticswilldefinitelydevelopBecomeanewsciencethatbenefitsthedevelopmentofmankind.Ithasbothasolidtheoreticalfoundationandhighpracticalguidingsignificance.