University of Nigeria Virtual Library

Serial No

1595-3742

Author 1 OBUASI, Blessing O. (Mrs)

Author 2

Author 3

Title Psycholinguistic Studies: An Aid to National Development

Keywords

Description Arts

Category Journal

Publisher Department of Linguistic and Nigeria Languages, UNN

Publication Date May, 2008

Signature

C C V 2 DfS!GN: A. U. OKFARA

REFERENCES

P S YCHOLIh'GUISTIC STUDIES:

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I hgs. :- - : = _ .. - in pho3e;.cs 275 phoneisgy ms; t : ~ c2rp,-; out r~s~:-c?,e: to a m ' .is . - C c . .'- , - - - - C r L - - C , (t, c' :~-;.-'a_se 275 :he 5 : ~ - ~ - 2 c , , ' C' E C I ~ ~ E P 5 ~ ~ 7 ~ c:w syr ' - 4 SE-:-,:'~S 1?;hiir E.<T~",s in s j n ; ? ~ ~ 7 : ~ ~ y , ~ n ~ c s pq j ? ' ; ; LL:;. ! f i ~ m ~ e ' c d

. . - - - - 7,: t - f in tes:- ,: !.!-, ?,:€a. The &rlk ST;:-- = i r = . - ~ r - c C . ~ c -: :-C;-,ze hgr- :-. . q.r -cc : . - . s 1 z 7 - , 7 - z Y.d,..- "- - .,(;> cc.nf:nde$ is F ' J - . ? , I-: ; ' r ~ : : , :C : - , ' c :;i ---'-. - - . - , -. &3? , , * . ,- -; - . - j . 4

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prew?psas not only the linguisfics competence but ass co,~rr:~~7ica!r've cco.npe!snce.

Hov<Eve;, t'ner~ !s a g:owing area in language studjl that does not x l y see ail aspec;':s of iang.53~ as b e k g important but also sees the need for the c3r;elatlon res~arches c x 5 d out in other areas as a means of not only fuf ier ing the :.- :;s.kr;~e ir! I ? .+ -?l~?=rf - f+~~d:l , h ~ l t &so exgosing how humans acquire, us? a n d \earr, !snguage. That area is psycholinguistics. PsychoIinguistir,~ has been cr~di ted with having the c z p z i ? j to handlewhat has been stated I ~ te l yas a discipline. ExgIaining . byha! psycholin;iistics is, Agbedo (2OO3:ql) simply s!ated that "Psychd;r;uistics as a term is the I2bs' usu211y given tothe study of language and mind". He went ahead tcl expk jn that ?C;c study of "language and mind" aims at modeling the iyt-icate and p t i e rned w o r k g s of the mind in relation to language as a means of human co.nmunic&ion.

In the L'~EV:S cf Caron (1922:177j Psycholinguistics is wzll establisheci within the general fran~+:3rk of the cognitive sciences and has the m ~ s i af5rmabfy interdisciplinar!; charxter of all branches of Psychdogy and more. The srea of Psych~!inguist;ts is thas was! 2s language is complex and vast. \We can crsrnfgr?abIy srj th5:~iore tha! Psycho!inguistir,s is a hybrid disc$I:-ie W ~ O S P

:i!eo:elical iox:3t l ,ms are based on the areas of Psjcholopy and Lin::,stics wilh t% t m GEFS r,::vvy'faif!xn sach other.

. = ::;uis:!ion. The mind zr the brsin is !he ersine fkat contro!s ail h u m w x t r : I:5s -as ~ i a : e s to language ac?j what happens in o u r rr,ind i v k n vrs speak, kcco7-l;ng !s

:bedo (%003:26j, IF,-:n pecple speak, :key ~ ; ; t i d ~ a s into xords - talk:;7; a k ' A -<iicgs, percepticr: z r d in t~r t ions meant b r a liskner to deccde. Also whem ,zeo~Ie ,'w. ?3ey form 1ri~rr's into ideas t3 decde. When vie si332k thmfcre , 3 Ici of

-.;:.?s 50 on in our ricrfs and brsins. The brain must have to be scund k r it tc .-xixe what the m i r i inte::ds, and for th listener to d x c d e whai was . ? : ,A, her .sin has to be socnr! tao. Chornsk] even thin& that what goes on when tie use

2nguage should nct oven be ufider linguis:ics but under cognitiva pspsholcq .';laihe,.vs, 1999:112). Whetherthis assumption is right orwrong is not in th? scope :'this wlte-up. H~'t!~:ier, the important thing a k u t h i s view is that what gc;s on in -a mind is vast an3 3s such, linguistics alone may nct be able to hand;? it all - -:ereTc:e the ernersxce of Psych~ l i rqu i i i i x . This new area wouid i"w use -,mrios In kotin Lingistics and Psychology to gzt at most of what is n c ~ b e d to' ~,;Jers%nd the m i ~ d ke3eras it produces !anc;ua$z.

From i h z ztove discilssions, it can he .said that though therf! are . sntroversles relating to the mind and lar,gusge i ssu~s , the fsct rernains :?at !he

--i:\c! shapes language and the products. On the other hand, since we thir,k with q u a g e , it has the 3kdibj cf shaping our minds too. M a t happens here car: be :aptered under !he Frxesses of speech production (planning and executior?), ar;d roeech comprehensicn (construction and uti2zaticn). Going into the details cf the : ?in may not be n e ~ s s a r j forthiswrit? up.

Sp5ech theisfore controls the bulk cf bunan life. Without speech, ;isSierns aboccnd, l"'s know for exampie, that a baby who has not reachad the ;;saki;,g stasc is $-,;::a!!;l i!l 351y if she k3s f w ~ ,4nd 2s w c h 211 ?r~a!-=?!spn

- 7e physically iil baby :spend on guesswork. Similarly, any adult, who out cf illness -.razcident cannot E Y ~ S S the self pc;sas a problem to the health worker because 311 -medies would be based on guess work too, except through the use of electrcnic _;adgets as in brain scanning. Brain scanniq can he done in serious brain ~ioblerns. S ~ c h brain problems can cause partial or total language disordsr which ,?anifest at many lebels and are refwed lo as aphasia. Two broad types of aphasia i:iist (named after the? foilnders) - Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia.

. Broca's aphasia - includes alt aphasias that are characterized by meaningfd 3ut skortened fragrrentary s p e x h catised by "darnagz to certain porticrs of the =.rain, but not the o:karsn whlch result in speech disorder. The speech paltern of zphasies under this type are in a way very simiiar to speech of "childrs~ at the :elegraphic stage of speozh production.(Steinberg 'and Natalia (2006:256). kcording to Steinterg and Natalia (2GO6:257),

Peop/3 Y;:'!!: Ercca's aphsia car! often sing very %ell. evsn using wads and structures they are unable to u t t w in conversaticns. This shows !,$at Broca's aphasia is flat s i ~ n ~ l y a brsakdo :in in the muscular control of speech movement, since those with this disorder can p.mduce words. The loss

r'zcple with t4hrnicke's aphasia cor~..ncnly p r w i d s S U ~ S ! ~ ! ~ : . ~

:*;grds fcr !he prc,cer cnes on the basis cf sin:!ar sounds, associat!~il, or oiher icealwes. The ;mrd 'chair' for exmpie . e!icited the follo!~ing in ssome patients: 'shair' (~,h/?i SSUIJC!).

'!ab/el (~ssc~ ja f i on ) , ':>rone'(relakd meaning), . . . These t > i 3 broad types can mn i i es t in other kinds like readins 3nd writing aphz<z known 2s 3yslexias and sign l a q i a g e aphasia.

d. Language and Communication Disorder

Lampage and ccrn~unicat ion disorder are two si3es of the : .we cC- Childr,;.:,? and even aduits w ~ t h language probiems hal f - s w h prcblem Secacise t' effectilre ise of languzge -which has to be c ~ ! ! e d ccmr-:-ur,i:a!ion discrder - and t: times s ~ c h persons may not acquire !ar;gtiag? at all cispent+.; cn the stage in l i 2 .- which tk2 problem sets in. According to h q b o g u , et a1 (2QG.28) , such pa~;'$ may have ianguage prc'clernssuch as the inability to s p a k c r t3tlnderstmri spec-: coc,ditic~s due to brain damage. The linguistic ability of such p e $ e may becors izpairec' and they may have croblems with the rel2tionsL;p Wxeer : scunds ar.: ieiters (Veadow~, 7 932.78).

i3rz.n damage thus t;eccmes zn i ; i te ies t~q area of invesxption fcr schoiars 2' psycholir;<uistics. Such resemhes help those who ernbark on it nctcnly to ider,YZr such pezple, but to give them the right linguistic h ~ l p to reach their height -7

acquirincJlearning and usicg language. I ? shoilld b? noted here that lan~ira;% disorder results from some brain damage while cornrnunication disarder rrz! mar,ifestwithout any brain davage.

3. The lmplicsti~ns and Relevance of Psycholinguistics

We h ~ v e so iar tried to x-ray the discipline under study whik we intend to disc~f-f :he implications and reievance of i! under the fcllowing sub-headings:

a. Psycholingulstlcs in Education and Seccnd Language:

Literacy is a linguistic prc)cess which is closely depecdent cr, the readers kno\.vkc!ge of the lznguage cf instruction. Language is therefore very importar.! a!l aspects of education and even more irr:oortant to ct?i!dren at the stage- :' lanyuast acquisi:icn. It is the vehicle through which educaticn is irparted, thus 1-5 aSe of appropriate Imguage is imperative in classroom siiuaticns.

"rhcugh, Applied Linguistics may be seen to be a better solution to view !? 5

Eddc~!''<~l; l - & r , ~ ~ ~ g ~ 1; p!.;:: a;c:-;id . ; ~ > , ~ . ~ ~ ~ 5. :;j sr:zr h y l y ~ 7 ~ ~ ~ ~ \ ! ~ ~ ~ I

::,?lves -whether expiessed or irnpair~d T h ~ r e f ~ r e , knor~!edye of the th;ories ir? -,:icholingujstiss exposes the teacher to the prxss;os a chi!d unr',eryoes tcr qu i re language. In other to understanding the child better iherefsre, tne teacher :mds a gocid chsnce of understafiding the processes the child is going thrcugh, so -4 the teacher may teach appropriately. 4 s the young chi!d in modern world staris :hool early, w h ~ t gces cn when we use language shculd not oniy be under iycholinguistics but extends to other areas as Cognitive Psychology. Whether this ?W is rjght r,r wrong, is not t'ne scope cf this study, as we said earlier. However, the .pcr?ant thing about-this view is that what gces onin the mind is vast and as such ;ycholinguistics may not adequately handle a\!.

Since we think with Iznguage, then language has !he ability of shaping the -:nd too. What happens in this process can ha captured better under the processes

- - speech production - that is taking up :he study of what goes an in the brain f0; -,?ech to be prcduced. This will thus help to formulate !!-eories. Further more, 2 I-ching method called "?lay-way-method" which resulted from such theories as m e has bean acc~pted as one of the best teaching retncds r:ot oriiy for teaching Tguage but also for the teaching of other subjects. Thx psycholinguistics is a xipl ine that takes care of the education of the child fiom the ciadie. With

koo:.;'edse of P s ' / c h o l i ~ ~ , s?:;~ rke si8$b]e.'c~rrichlgm planner; .;,;,i r.? a k ! s :-, krs*,v the r,hl\d's de\le!r?.r,??:-:i sl/el a r d :hen apg rop r ia t~ \~ d?:'.;~ ;s t? L O , ~ ~ , ~ r , t , : 1 at each lc:ei cf c~!:dcz;:~:-,. TP.5 .:~111 k31s reduc; the c r !d'-, c:%kr,s I?

lea:r!ing and make hsr I?''.'?; 3 3 1 i ; ? ~ d %r F C S ; : ; ~ , ~ valces c: :,:p. AS h ~ r , ~ dev2lopmefit h;;l,-eson edk:?!l,~. ; i l s ' r - - ~ ~ + a - t . . L 4 1 .-, _:is. * c r r c:? that psyc~.; l i rg~~st~cs $aj.< a vital role in giving the ch? q u z .:aiive zd::cat;s>~ 2 n d shaping ti-: 'ricrlij v l ~ : v s an: values of lifewnich ar2 nersss-:ri f ~ r f i ~ : : , , i ~ ~ l develc~ment. ... 111. Physica! Dwe!opmer,t: Knc.v'~dqe of psycho1inguist;::s e.xpcszi one tc the know!edge cf the M!: ma?? - ap esszsiaiIy b w it warrts to par"Y:m its lir1guis:ic functions. Therefore, once or,$ noticzs !hat tha brain is not csx~e ten t , remec':# shoi;ld be sought. Brain d.scr<?r Is ~ a ~ i i y ~o t i ced in language d'sorder- thoush ci different levels. The i ~ ~ ; d j ' f c r ' i i s is !r~d;cat atkntion. This by inp'ica'.lon r e a r s that the health wc;rk?r reeds TCT? $x~?. t ' zdge ofPsychclin_auistics. . .

In line with earlkr d : ~ : ~ = i i ~ n s . wFa: gces cn in the brain is essertial for cLr ' i national developmn:anii tr:a bF?,n is ,zz to f our physical body. If the cPild is tacghi :-

how to think and reason cbjec!ively acd constructively from ycuth, that n a y m 1 .

depart from her even at the =dui;s:age As can kc reasoned, the ~ i s e of appr:pria:e '

language can only resu!! ':sn~ 3 soi41:S mind, ar,d it is essen::al for hilrn?n cc- existence lest language of c o ~ h s i o n becomes the crder of the day. For instance. the language of most of ot:r pc"ticians can well be grouped u n d a the languqe of confusion as mentioned akove in their qmst for power, they make non-in;p!icating statements with vagce c lxses. These statements expose the state of their minds. In the end we no!e empbj premises. Can we group them under some types c' aphasia? Ir: that case, it rr:e.ws that a large number of the merke i s cf our soci%, ai? aphasics. Tha ihi~;ti: ::C a ;?:sm is ~egsurec i from his WO$S. TO t k : ~ effect Psycholinguistlcs ard Psycholing~ists wouid help a great deal in identiQic; problems of the brains, c!assify i5e prcblems and prOff2is solut.ms for them for t?,? good health ofthe individuals ir; s~ciebj.

iv. Technology: Simi!arly, psycholinguistics has realiy con!ributed a lot In recent times ir: the area cf compu~atioral modeling -that is the design in^ soft wares to tske over the areas and functiofis of the krain This lechnolcgy is exposed in t k ~ area of using robots as in ihe rnanufactl~re of the brain boxes 2s u s d in aircraPs Even the computers and cell phcnes aia :esul:s of mimicking tka brain. These 3 r i all at?ernpts cf man to m i r k ike r,urnar! brain for the service of man since the way !he brain works is pow an accessk'e area These are all artificial inteliigence devices Which are studied under Neurolingilis:ics in Psycholinguistics and Neurology in health science. It is a pity tP,ar ~n this nation we do not have much research in !hi5 direction. We are mainly consmers not interested in spe~ding money in researcfi Projects. Those in authcrit.1 d; not he!? out issdes. 8u i I am of the view that 1f0uf nation invesis on researcn projects in t n~s direc::on, many h~dden aphasic probk-2 would be taken care of a rd human resourcesvill improve.