Psycholinguistics is a course
which is addressed to third-year BA students at the English
Department-University of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Jijel. In a nutshell, Psycholinguistics
is defined as
the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological
aspects. Psycholinguists are often
interested in knowing how language and speech are acquired (Acquisition),
how language and speech are produced (Production), how language and speech are comprehended
(Comprehension), and how language and speech are lost (Dissolution). In
accordance with this line of thought, the students in this course will be
introduced to an intriguing aspect of psycholinguistics which is “Language
Acquisition”. Particularly, light will be shed on the stages of first language
acquisition. In other words, the students will be acquainted with developmental
psycholinguistics. Moreover, examples of feral and isolated children will be
brought to the fore so as to highlight the issue of the existence of a critical
age for First Language Acquisition. Whether or not such a critical age could be extended to Second Language Acquisition will also be discussed.