Talking the Talk ─ Language, Psychology and Science

Language makes us human, but how do we use it and how do children learn it? Talking the Talk is an introduction to the psychology of language. Written for the reader with no background in the area or knowledge of psychology, it explains how we actually "do" language: how we speak, listen, and read.

This book provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to psycholinguistics, the study of the psychological processes involved in language. It shows how it’s possible to study language experimentally, and how psychologists use these experiments to build models of language processing. The book focuses on controversy in modern psycholinguistics, and covers the all the main topics, including how children acquire language, how language is related to the brain, and what can go wrong – and what can be done when something does go wrong.
Structured around questions that people often ask about language, the emphasis of Talking the Talk is how scientific knowledge can be applied to practical problems. It also stresses how language is related to other aspects of psychology, particularly in whether animals can learn language, and the relation between language and thought.


Lively and amusing, the book will be essential reading for all undergraduate students and those new to the topic, as well as the interested lay reader.

Trevor Harley completed his undergraduate degree and PhD at the University of Cambridge. He moved to the University of Dundee in 1996 from the University of Warwick. He holds a Personal Chair in Cognitive Psychology and is currently Head of the School of Psychology. He is a Chartered Psychologist and his main research interest is in normal and pathological speech production.

Preface. 1. Language. 2. Animals. 3. Children. 4. Thought. 5. Meaning. 6. Words. 7. Understanding. 8. Speaking. 9. End. 10. Next. 11. Glossary. 12. References.