Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe interdisciplinary field of study which concerns the acquisition, comprehension and production of language in its spoken, written and signed forms, using concepts and approaches from linguistics, psychology and cognitive science.
Psycholinguistics is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind and brain: i.e., the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, comprehend, produce and use language.
3 more examples
Psycholinguistics began with attempts to test the empirical validity of various formal linguistic concepts.
1975, [Lawrence Erlbaum], Sam Glucksberg, Joseph H. Danks, Experimental Psycholinguistics: An Introduction, Psychology Press, published 2014, page xi2006, Nobuhiro Furuyama, 44: Language and gesture as a single communicative system, Mineharu Nakayama, Reiko Mazuka, Yasuhiro Shirai, Ping Li (editors), The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics, Volume 2: Japanese, Cambridge University Press, page 333, Speech-gesture research is one of the emerging fields in psycholinguistics that, by referring to speech-accompanying gestures, attempts to elucidate the underlying process in which qualitatively different types of thinking, e.g. imagistic thinking and linguistic thinking, become coordinated with one another.
The seeds for work on processing have their roots in early L2 research, but the psycholinguistics of SLA didn't really take off until the 1990s.
2014, Jill Jegerski, Bill VanPatten, Research Methods in Second Language Psycholinguistics, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page ixSynonyms: psychology of language
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe interdisciplinary field of study which concerns the acquisition, comprehension and production of language in its spoken, written and signed forms, using concepts and approaches from linguistics, psychology and cognitive science.
Origin
- Ancient Greekψῡχή (psūkhḗ)
- Ancient Greekψῡχο- (psūkho-)
- Englishpsycho-
- Proto-Indo-European*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s
- Proto-Italic*dn̥ɣwā
- Latindingua
- Latinlingua
- Englishlinguist
- Englishlinguistics
- Englishpsycholinguistics
From psycho- + linguistics.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 心理語言學 /心理语言学
- 心理語言學 /心理语言学 (sam¹ lei⁵ jyu⁵ jin⁴ hok⁶)field of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Chinese Mandarin 心理語言學 /心理语言学
- 心理語言學 /心理语言学 (xīnlǐ yǔyánxué)field of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Czech psycholingvistika
- psycholingvistikafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Dutch psycholinguïstiek
- psycholinguïstiekfield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Esperanto psikolingvistiko
- psikolingvistikofield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Estonian psühholingvistika
- psühholingvistikafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Finnish psykolingvistiikka
- psykolingvistiikkafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
French psycholinguistique
- psycholinguistiquefield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
German Psycholinguistik, Sprachpsychologie
- Psycholinguistikfield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
- Sprachpsychologiefield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Greek ψυχογλωσσολογία
- ψυχογλωσσολογία (psychoglossología)field of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Hungarian pszicholingvisztika
- pszicholingvisztikafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Italian psicolinguistica, psicologia del linguaggio
- psicolinguisticafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
- psicologia del linguaggiofield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Japanese 心理言語学
- 心理言語学 (shinrigengogaku)field of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Korean 심리언어학
- 심리언어학 (simnieoneohak)field of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Polish psycholingwistyka
- psycholingwistykafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Portuguese psicolinguística
- psicolinguísticafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Russian психолингви́стика
- психолингви́стика (psixolingvístika)field of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Slovak psycholingvistika
- psycholingvistikafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Spanish psicolingüística
- psicolingüísticafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Swahili isimu nafsia
- isimu nafsiafield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Turkish psikolinguistik
- psikolinguistikfield of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Ukrainian психолінгвістика
- психолінгвістика (psyxolinhvistyka)field of study concerning the comprehension and production of language
Cite this entry
psycholinguistics. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psycholinguistics
“psycholinguistics.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psycholinguistics. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “psycholinguistics,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psycholinguistics.
Source: psycholinguistics on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.