An established bestseller, The Articulate Mammal is a concise and highly readable introduction to the main topics in psycholinguistics. This fifth edition brings the book up to date with recent theories, including new material on:

*the possibility of a "language gene" *how children become acclimatized by speech rhythms before birth *post-Chomsky ideas.

Requiring no prior knowledge of the subject, chapter by chapter, this book tackles the basic questions central to the study of psycholinguistics. Jean Aitchison investigates these issues with regard to animal communication, child language and the language of adults, and includes full references and helpful suggestions for further reading.