Language psychology

Linguistic psychology is a branch of psychology in contrast to psycholinguistics , which is assigned to linguistics . There is no doubt that psycholinguistics and language psychology overlap , but the two sciences cannot be equated with one another. While historically the psycholinguistics u. a. was shaped by generative grammar, the origins of linguistic psychology can be found in the philosophy of language , in ethnic psychology , in developmental psychology and in association psychology . In addition to differences in content (including primacy of language versus primacy of cognition), there are also differences in methodological terms (linguistic processes versus experimental methodology). Neighboring areas of linguistic psychology are linguistics (especially psycholinguistics ), neurolinguistics , the psychology of communication and cognitive science . Linguistic psychology differs from psycholinguistics not least in its methodology (psychological experiments versus analyzes of linguistics ), although here too the fields of research overlap. In terms of content, the department of speech psychology is divided as follows:

Language development

The prerequisite for language development is relative independence from genetic pre-programming. In the course of phylogenesis , this free space or what can be learned gradually becomes wider in comparison with what is genetically transmitted. However, only the modifiability itself finds its way into inheritance and not the results of individual modifications. It cannot be a question of contrasting the changes based on learning processes with the modifications based on natural selection ; rather, the question arises as to the reasons for which learning processes result from natural selection.

In the higher primates, social communication is already pronounced due to the freedom gained, but the conveyance of information is hardly available. The higher primates can already communicate `` about something '' with their gestures at first, provided that the missing natural prerequisites for this are artificially fulfilled (e.g. by researchers), but their auditory communication still serves exclusively for immediate emotional expression.

The biological behavioral researchers observed social and then also communicative behavior in higher mammals and primates in the wild and under practical research conditions. Particularly investigated were the animals' emotional vocal expressions, which, for example, can be heard by `` mitieren '' when there is imminent danger and act as a `` warning signal '' to them, and hand gestures that are used with the help of people, i.e. under artificial conditions, to communicate very simple facts can be. However, this so-called 'animal language' can only be formed with immediate rewards and disappears again when the human hand-made relief for the learning process of the experimental animal no longer applies. In the wild, chimpanzees cannot learn sign language on their own and, as a result, cannot pass it on to the next generation. The possible passing on of what has been learned and created to the children and grandchildren, the so-called handing down, is probably the decisive prerequisite for the language of people in its special form to arise at all.

In the transition from animals to humans, genetic programming overarching issues such as the passing on and continuation of stone tools over generations and skills such as the accumulative ability to choose, which is generative with regard to linguistic behavior, are relevant in the phylogenetically opened free space. Human language presupposes the passing on, transmission and acquisition of tools and corresponding skills - processes that are unthinkable without social formation. A special feature of human language in relation to the 'animal languages' is that terms are combined in a variety of ways and creatively. The more complex and differentiated the language becomes, the more finely the environment can be processed.

The functional neural systems typical for higher psychological activities and performance of people are primarily culturally conveyed extracortically, i.e. outside the brain, via external auxiliary stimuli and gradually built up, whereby the necessary networks in different areas of the central nervous system are activated and connected to one another. Therefore, older people, for example, who are torn from their familiar surroundings and transferred to a home, usually show a rapid decline in their higher, i.e. externally imparted, language skills.

Language acquisition of the child

In language acquisition , the development of speaking as well as hearing produced language, a distinction is made between the infant's first cooing (drawn out, soft rolling tones) and babbling (doubling of syllables). Over time, moments of vocal exercises take on meanings of the lifeworld. For the time being, one-word sentences appear, whereby the signifier (expression of the meaning) can include several signifieds (meaning contents). Initially, the toddler tends to generalize meanings (over-extension), but sometimes the opposite is also the case (under-extension).

Preferences of infants when taking breaks, when there are interruptions in naturally structured texts compared to artificial texts, as well as preferences of toddlers when what was said and what was said and what they did not match indicate an early 'grammatical understanding' of the children. During the development of the syntax there can be overregulations (e.g. when irregular verbs are inflected according to the pattern of regular verbs), which should not be interpreted as a delay in development (in the sense of underregulation).

For a long time, children's speech production remains a spontaneous production, which adults pay more or less attention to and to which they more or less respond (starting with so-called baby talk). In the course of development, the standard language becomes increasingly important as a guideline for the acquisition of the language. From kindergarten age, the externally acquired language is interiorized. From now on, language is not only the medium of silent thinking, but also the most important aid in coping with psychological tasks (e.g. when 'keeping things going').

Oral language: speaking and listening

In contrast to the older phrase structure models ( generative grammar ) and psychological models of language production, in the newer connectionist models and in the models of neural networks, the originally exclusively linear ideas of speech production are substituted by parallel ideas. The transformation of significant givens into signifiers requires attention as well as access to content-related and formal associations; On the basis of these spontaneous processes, there is also the possibility of control and intentional speaking.

In listening and intentional listening, the signifiers are converted into signifieds. Just as what is already occurring is channeled and processed when speaking, what is already occurring is modified at reception. The recipient seeks v. a. afterwards to 'maintain' meaning (constancy of meaning). As with language production, data-based bottom-up processes and contextually oriented top-down processes complement each other in the reception of language.

Speaking and understanding cannot be reduced to individual, inner-psychological processes, but are primarily to be understood as a supra-individual, objective (overall) process. If the speaker and / or listener overestimate or underestimate their common world experience (common ground), communication difficulties arise and communication fails if the effective discrepancies are too large.

Speech production and reception do not begin without preconditions, but with the significant and / or significant environment of the producer. In this linguistic psychological approach, language is actually of primary importance; that is, language includes the psychic. Conversely: Different languages divide the reality in which people live in different ways. There are a number of experimental studies on this. It can be seen, for example, that people with different mother tongues perceive the world in different colors.

Written language: writing and reading

Writing differs from speaking in communicative and formal terms. Since no communication partner is present, attention is paid to a greater degree of explicitness and freedom of context when writing. The preparatory phase plays i. d. Typically a bigger role than speaking and planning also relates more to formal issues that are less important or omitted when speaking (such as punctuation). Naturally, linearization is more important when writing than when speaking. Automation is just as relevant as de-automation in written language, but automatic writing seems to be more about grammatical and less about meaningfulness.

As with speaking and understanding, bottom-up processes and top-down processes complement each other in writing and reading. Basic phonological processing seems to be of particular importance when reading texts. As studies have shown, phonological information is not only relevant when reading aloud, but is also activated or activated when reading silently. reactivated automatically. The processing for listening and reading takes place in different ways on the lower level, but this 'dual track' is given up on the higher level in favor of a 'single track' (integrated model of listening and reading comprehension). Reading aloud has long been understood in terms of the dual access model or the analogy model, but for two decades network models have also received greater attention in the written language area of understanding.

The child learns to read and write by gradually learning, starting from the smallest units of sound and meaning in language, the phonemes or morphemes, to synthesize the whole of a word, then a sentence, and finally a text and at the same time again and again to analyze - a cultural skill that takes a lot of practice to finally be incorporated. It is a complex process in which imaginations are always broken down into the form of letters or letters, words and sentences are continuously transferred into imaginations. In the case of reading, primarily signifieds (signifying) are converted into signifieds (signified) and in the case of writing primarily signifieds are converted into signifiers; in the process of acquiring reading and writing skills, however, both 'translations' constantly interlock and complement one another.

literature

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