psycholinguistics

[ sahy-koh-ling-gwis-tiks ]

noun

, (used with a singular verb)

1. the study of the relationship between language and the cognitive or behavioral characteristics of those who use it.

psycholinguistics

/ ˌsaɪkəʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks /

noun

1. functioning as singular the psychology of language, including language acquisition by children, the mental processes underlying adult comprehension and production of speech, language disorders, etc

Derived Forms

• ˌpsychoˈlinguist, noun
• ˌpsycholinˈguistic, adjective

Other Words From

• psycho·linguist noun
• psycho·lin·guistic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of psycholinguistics¹

First recorded in 1935–40; psycho- + linguistics

Example Sentences

To illustrate the absurdity—and long history—of this notion, linguists often retell the ancient story of the Greek historian Herodotus, who in about the fifth century B.C. wrote about an ancient psycholinguistics experiment.

From Scientific American

In the future, he adds, the company plans to expand its tech to include an option for people to upload letters or essays they’ve written to be analyzed by a psycholinguistics engine.

From The Verge

Fortunately, garden- pathing is a major research topic in psycholinguistics, so we know what to look for.

From Literature

Dr. Diebold led a brilliant academic career as a linguistic anthropologist specializing in comparative and historical Indo-European Studies, theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics and transcultural psychiatry.

From Forbes

They have been together for nearly two years, but Ms. Tenenbaum, who studies psycholinguistics at Northeastern University, felt that her boyfriend wasn’t as affectionate as he might be.

From New York Times