The Psychology of Language and Communication

This text provides a wide-ranging introduction to a vast and fascinating area of study-- the psychology of human language use. It offers a new breadth of approach to the subject, breaching conventional disciplinary boundaries with examples and perspectives drawn from many subdisciplines-- cognitive and social psychology, psycholinguistics, neuropsychology, and sociology. The authors present the view that human language needs to be seen in context, as just one of an integrated set of communicative channels, and they explore the interactions between these various means of communication in detail.
After an exploration of the diverse nature of communication, using examples from the animal kingdom, Ellis and Beattie focus on a range of human communicative channels, both verbal and non-verbal. They discuss the nature of human language and the insights that may be gained from study of the variations occurring between and within societies and cultures. Subsequent chapters cover specific aspects of language and communication: speech production as a psycholinguistic skill; the coordination of verbal and non-verbal channels; the structure and management of conversations; language perception and comprehension; the cognitive neuropsychology of language; and the development of linguistic and general communicative skills.
The book also offers an informative and entertaining historical perspective, and illustrates the fact-- frequently disregarded when study is confined to narrow disciplinary fields-- that insights gained into controversial problems in other fields and at other times can shed light on many of today's most contentious debates in psychology. As a broad and readable survey it will prove indispensable for students of this popular area of psychology.