LINGUIST List 11.2028

Sun Sep 24 2000

Sum: Undergrad Psycholinguistic Textbooks

Editor for this issue: Lydia Grebenyova <lydialinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Regina Morin, Undergrad Psycholinguistic Textbooks

For Query: 11.1877

Approximately two weeks ago I posted the following query:

I would like to know if anyone is familiar with text books at the
undergraduate level dealing with the psycholinguistic aspects of
language processing and speech disorders and or with other aspects of
psycholinguistics. I am interested in texts that are really for
undergraduates rather than graduate students and that hopefully have
exercises accompanying the chapters. 

I received replies from Kevin Johnson, Nancy Frishberg, Yourie Pankratz,
Michael Toolan, Andrew Winnard, Ocke Bohn, Alice S. Horning, Grant
Goodall, Clare Gallaway, Lynn Santelmann and Renee Jourdenais. If I
left anyone out I apologize and thank you for your reply.


Replies included the following suggestions and comments:

1.Cairns, Helen Smith (1999). Psycholinguistics: an introduction.
Austin, Texas: Pro-Ed, Inc. ( a little dogmatic but that but not
unexpectedly so in any entry level text.) 

2. Miller, George A. (1996). The science of words. New York:
Scientific American Library. 

3. Carroll, David W. (1999). Psychology of Language, third edition. 
Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. (highly
recommended)
 
4. A Journey into the Deaf-World, by Harlan Lane, Bob Hoffmeister and
Ben Bahan Dawn Sign Pr; ISBN: 0915035634. (They wrote it specifically
for students in speech and language pathology, communication disorders,
etc.. It can easily bring real life relevance to theoretical
discussions.)

5. There are two new textbooks (undergraduate level) :
	a) Thomas Scovel. 1998. Psycholinguistics. Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN
0194372138 (appear a bit thin for a whole course on psycholinguistics,
but might be a nice supplement to a course where that is a section of
the work, or as a supplement to a more difficult book:)
	b) Loraine K. Obler & Kris Gjerlow. 1999. Language and the Brain.
Cambridge Univ. Press

6. Paul Whitney's 'The Psych'y of Language' (Houghton) (*not* (child)
language acquisition, which is what some of the intro pyscholings books
turn out to offer) 

7. Alan Garnham's 'Psycholinguistics' (fairly challenging/dense for many
undergrads, and, with similar reservations and also it's a bit dated). 

8. Chapters from Gernsbacher's big Handbook are good but uneven in
level, and often too complex. 

9. R. Lesser and L. Milroy's book, from Longman, of about 1994, on
language processing in normals and aphasics, which moves 'above' the
word/clause to utterances in context, pragmatics, etc., is 
good in parts too.

10. Haven't been able to find one that can be used just straight how it
is. Possibly for use as UG textbooks:

	Harley T 1995 The Psychology of Language Erlbaum
	Aitchison J 199+ THe articulate mammal (latest edition I think 4th) 
(a bit light for an entire course in psycholinguistics and it would have
to be supplemented with other readings.)
	Useful chapters in Fromkin and Rodman, and sections in David Crystal's
Encyc of Language (Cambridge Uni Press) 

11. Psycholinguistics, (1997) edited by Jean Berko Gleason and Nan
Bernstein Ratner, published by Harcourt Brace ((Second Edition 1998)
Some chapters are quite demanding, but I have used the book successfully
( I think) in an undergraduate course, and I will use it again. The only
chapter which is disappointing is C. Snow's on bilingualism and second
language acquisition. )

12. Better suited to graduate students or for upper division students in
psychology. Of these two, the Harley book is more readable, and might
actually be OK for undergrads.
	Garman, Michael (1990) Psycholinguistics. Cambridge University Press. 
(pitched at a slightly higher level than undergrad)
	Harley, Trevor A. (1995) The Psychology of Language: From Data to
Theory. Lawrence Erlbaum.


13. I've been using the volume on language (edited by Lila Gleitman and
Mark Liberman) in the Invitation to Cognitive Science series by MIT
Press. It covers an interesting range of topics and has exercises at
the end of every chapter, but the chapters are VERY uneven in terms of
accessibility for undergraduates (each chapter is written by a different
author). Still, some of the chapters are extremely well done, and I've
found that students can work their way through some of the
not-so-accessible chapters if I give them a lot of help.


Thanks to everyone who responded.

Regina Morin
Dept. of Modern Languages
The College of New Jersey