Psycholinguistic aspects of language

Abstract

As a system of human knowledge language can be studied from overt behaviour which is the result of underlying knowledge and abilities man has in order to use language effectively. Psycholinguistics is interested in these underlying knowledge and abilities, and makes use of psychology and linguistics in order to study the mental processes underlying the acquisition and use of language. Linguistics is concerned with the formal description of the structure of language (an essential segment of human knowledge that includes sounds and meanings, and the relevant grammar that relates sounds and meanings). Psychology is then concerned with how such systems are acquired in childhood (language acquisition) and how these acquired systems function in daily communication (language use that involves production and understanding of sentences). The psycholinguist, therefore, tries to go beyond mere description of language behaviour: he tries to formulate underlying structures and processes that account for the order found in observed behaviour. These formulations are called linguistic postulates.