Psycholinguistics 130, Fall 2006 Harvard University

Lecturer: Dr. Peggy Li

Email: pegs@wjh.harvard.edu
Office: Boylston Hall 303
Office Hours: Mondays 10-12 and by appointment

TF: Dr. Mathieu Le Corre TF: Elena Zinchenko

Email: lecorre@wjh.harvard.edu Email: elena.zinchenko@gmail.com
Office: Shannon Hall 214 Office:
Office Hours: TBA Office Hours: TBA

Course Descriptions
The capacity for language sets the human mind apart from all other minds, both natural and
artificial, and so contributes critically to making us who we are. In this course, we ask
several fundamental questions about the psychology of language: How do we understand
and produce it, seemingly without effort? How do children acquire it so quickly and so
accurately? What is the relationship between language and thought? Why did language
evolve? And to what extent is the capacity for language special, and to what extent is it the
product of general cognitive machinery?

Aims of the Course

• To introduce you to some of the central questions in the psycholinguistics
• To introduce you to some of the ways in which researchers go about answering those
questions.
• To increase your comfort and proficiency with reading and discussing research in this
area.

Readings
Readings are on reserve at the Lamont library and can be downloaded through links from
the course website. Please be sure to check the syllabus for reading assignments.

Recommended Textbook:
D.W. Carroll, Psychology of Language (4th edition)
Grading
• Participation: 30%
• Mid-term exam: 30% -- November 2nd
• Final exam: 40% (Cumulative Content)

Participation
Participation grade will be determined by your contribution to discussions in class and in
sections as well as postings on the course website.

Exams
The exams will ask you to synthesize material from the readings and from our discussions.
You will not be required to know the minutiae of each experiment we consider, but rather
to understand the Big Picture. You should be prepared to explain the importance the
questions that we explore; to understand how these questions have been (or could be)
answered; to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence which bears on those
questions; and to apply your knowledge to new questions. Both exams will be open-book.

In order to help you study:

• Sample exam questions will be posted on the course website.
• One week prior to the midterm and the last day of class, you will be asked to submit
exam questions which I will try to incorporate into the actual exam. To do so, you are
to team up in groups of 3-4 students, list 5 major points covered in the course, and
submit 5 short essay questions. You will be graded on the relevance and the quality of
the questions you submit. For the midterm, they will count for 1/3 of your final
midterm grade. For the final, they will count for 1/4 of your final exam grade.

Extra Credit
Extra credit will be offered to bump borderline grades up one notch (e.g., B+ to A-; C- to
C).

You may choose from one of two options. For one option, you will need to participate in a
psycholinguistic experiment (check out http://studypool.wjh.harvard.edu for studies).
Then to receive credit, write a short paper (6 double spaced pages) on what the study is
testing, your predictions of the results, and your experience as the participant.
Alternatively, you could instead write a paper following up on a topic covered in the class
(10 double spaced pages). Incoherent papers will not count for extra credit.
Schedule
(subject to change)

Date Topic Readings

September 19 Preliminaries Carroll (2004) Chapter 1
September 21 Language design Carroll (2004) Chapter 2
September 26 Language and the brain Carroll (2004) Chapter 13 pp. 338-361
September 28 Bioprogram for language learning Gleitman & Newport (1995)
October 3 Bioprogram for language learning MITEC: Critical Period in Language Development
October 5 Speech Perception Miller (1990)
October 10 Speech Perception Werker (1995)
October 12 Lexical access
Carroll (2004) Chapter 4
October 17 Lexical access
October 19 How we understand sentences Ferreira & Clifton (1998), Trueswell, Tanenhaus, &
Garnsey (1994)
October 24 How we understand sentences
October 26 How we understand sentences MacDonald et al. (1994)

October 31 How we speak Bock (1995)

November 2 Midterm
November 7 How we speak Bock (1995)

November 9 Meaning
Harley (1995) Chapter 6
November 14 Meaning
November 16 Pragmatics & Language in Use MITEC: Pragmatics, Presuppositions, Implicatures
November 21 Pragmatics & Language in Use Clark (1992) Introduction
November 28 Language Acquisition Fisher & Gleitman (2002)
Gleitman et al. (2005)
November 30 Language Acquisition
December 5 Bilingualism
TBA: Mathieu Le Corre (Guest Lecturer)
December 7 Bilingualism
December 12 Other animals and Language Carroll (2004) Chapter 13 pp. 361-374
Seyfarth & Cheney (1992)
December 14 Evolution of language
December 19 Language and thought Pullum (1991); Anna Shusterman (Guest Lecturer)