LINGUIST List 15.1439

Thu May 6 2004

Review: Psycholinguistics: Aitchison (2003)

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

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Directory

  • Azra Nahid Ali, A Glossary of Language and Mind

    Message 1: A Glossary of Language and Mind

     Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 17:55:10 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Azra Nahid Ali <a.n.alihud.ac.uk>
    Subject: 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.