Preface

This book introduces key issues in the production and comprehension of spoken and written language. Its focus is on how adult native speakers carry out the everyday but complex tasks involved in generating an utterance from an idea or in deriving a meaning from a sentence.

Using data from observation, from experiments, and more recently from brain imaging, the field of psycholinguistics has contributed significantly to our understanding of the uniquely human ability to communicate through language. Introducing Psycholinguistics summarises key findings from the field, such as the fascinating study of spontaneous speech errors and misperceptions, and carefully controlled experimental investigations of the details of how we produce and understand language.

Introducing Psycholinguistics is written by a linguist primarily for students of linguistics. The book therefore assumes no prior familiarity with psychology. Although readers would find a basic understanding of linguistic concepts helpful, explanations of key linguistic terminology are provided. As a consequence, this text is also a useful introduction for students of psychology with an interest in language processing.