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Advanced Topics in Psycholinguistics - LAN00076M

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• Department: Language and Linguistic Science
• Module co-ordinator: Dr. Nino Grillo
• Credit value: 20 credits
• Credit level: M
• Academic year of delivery: 2021-22
  • See module specification for other years: 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25

Module summary

This module builds on L31M (LAN00031M - Psycholinguistics) and aims to support independent research in experimental psycholinguistics, with a focus on sentence processing by encouraging discussion with staff and peers engaged in related research.

Related modules

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Spring Term 2021-22

Module aims

This module focuses on the relation between the grammar and the parser and between linguistic theory and psycholinguistics. This module builds on L31M (LAN00031M - Psycholinguistics) and aims to support independent research in experimental psycholinguistics, with a focus on sentence processing by encouraging discussion with staff and peers engaged in related research.

Besides introducing current approaches to the relation between the grammar and the parser, the course provides specific examples of how linguistic analysis can shape our understanding of cognitive mechanisms (e.g. memory).

Module learning outcomes

At the end of the module the student should:

• Become aware of the interaction of cognitive general and language specific constraints in the domain of sentence processing

• Evaluate experimental psycholinguistics literature from both the point of view of empirical coverage and that of theoretical coherence and formal elegance

• Connect linguistic theory to experimental predictions

• Evaluate relevance of experimental results for specific theoretical positions

• Plan, design and carry out a basic research project in experimental psycholinguistics

Module content

The course will focus on sentence processing, providing examples of the contribution of sophisticated linguistic theory to the understanding of memory mechanisms and apparent cross-linguistic and cross-population variation in processing. Issues at the interface of syntax with memory, pragmatics and prosody will be discussed, together with issues in language acquisition and impairment (the course might not cover each of these topics every year). Discussion of specific issues in experimental psycholinguistics will be carried on alternating traditional lectures with seminar style teaching.

Topics will include:

• Sentence Comprehension

• Sentence Production

• Syntactic Processing and memory mechanisms

• Processing of Filler-gap dependencies

Assessment

Task	Length	% of module mark
Essay/coursework 5000 word essay	N/A	100

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task	Length	% of module mark
Essay/coursework 5000 word essay	N/A	100

Module feedback

Formative:

Student presentations in the seminars serve as formative work.

Oral feedback will be provided during the seminars

Feedback after student presentations and in meetings to discuss essay topic

Summative:

Written feedback available at the end of the summer term

Indicative reading

Fodor, J. D. (1998a). Learning to Parse? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 27:285–319.

Fodor, J. D. (1998b). Parsing to Learn? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 27:339–374.

Lewis, S. and Phillips, C. (2015). Aligning grammatical theories and language processing models. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 44(1):27–46.

Yoshida, M., Kazanina, N., Pablos, L., and Sturt, P. (2014). On the origin of islands. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 29(7):761–770.

Lewis, R. L., Vasishth, S., and Van Dyke, J. A. (2010). Computational principles of working memory in sentence comprehension. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10:447–454.