LINGUIST List 15.1439

Thu May 6 2004

Review: Psycholinguistics: Aitchison (2003)

Editor for this issue: Naomi Ogasawara <naomilinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Azra Nahid Ali, A Glossary of Language and Mind

AUTHOR: Aitchison, Jean
TITLE: A Glossary of Language and Mind
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2003
Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-370.html

Azra N. Ali, School of Computing and Engineering, 
University of Huddersfield, England.

OVERVIEW

The author has provided some in-depth explanation for most of the key
terms used today in psycholinguistics. Therefore, the book is ideal
for undergraduate or postgraduate students in their first year of
research in the field of language and linguistics.

INTRODUCTION

The author starts by presenting an introductory chapter on the works
of psycholinguistics and the study of language and mind. The chapter
also describes how the study of psycholinguistics differs from the
study of linguistics.

GLOSSARY 

This section is a glossary of terms from A to Z that are used today in
the study of language and mind. The author has provided some in-depth
explanation for most of the key terms. She also gives examples of how
the term relates to speech, language and processing, thus making it
easier for a person to comprehend. The glossary section also gives
cross-referencing to other key words and topics that are connected
together.

The author includes terms that cross boundaries into other fields, for
example, 'computational linguistics', 'artificial intelligence', etc.
She also provides information about some of the well-known scientists;
for example, Roman Jakobson (1896-1982, page 61), the focus of his
research and how his ideas have evolved over the years.

SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER READING

The final section is excellent because the author presents a list of
books with comments for further reading on the subject. The section
is broken into three parts; (i) books that are easy to read, (ii)
''straightforward'' textbooks (iii) ''Books of readings''.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Azra Ali is a PhD student in the School of Computing and Engineering
at the University of Huddersfield, England. Her research focuses on
audiovisual speech errors that probe the cognitive mental models of
humans. Her second aim of the research is to use the cognitive
phonology framework to represent these errors. Currently, she is also
expanding her knowledge in the area of probabilistic linguistics.