Sleeping Beauties. A Night on Psycholinguistics
Spui 25-27, 1012 XM Amsterdam.
In cooperation with the Alumnikring Taalwetenschap (AUV), VOS (studievereniging voor (gebaren)taalwetenschap) and Athenaeum Boekhandel
In 'A History of Psycholinguistics' (2013), Pim Levelt awoke a number of psycholinguistic theories from their sleep, going back as far as the eighteenth century. He will speak about these 'sleeping beauties'. Anne Baker will respond and considers these theories from the perspective of sign languages.
In psycholinguistics (as in any other science) brilliant work was done but forgotten. However, a number of theories and methods awoke after a long period of somnolence. Pim Levelt explains why. On the basis of his book A History of Psycholinguistics, he will show how the forgotten studies of the past can still be relevant. For example, in 1895, Rudolf Meringer proposed an explanation for why we produce speech errors like jop the dram instead of drop the jam. This model was lost for almost a century until it was reawakened, resulting in some recent important work on speech production.
Such sleeping beauties are important for current thinking in (psycho)linguistics, but are they also important for the new branch of linguistics that looks at sign languages of the deaf? Anne Baker will take up the challenge to consider these theories as they might apply to languages that have to be seen rather than heard. In her contribution, she will first describe what sign languages are and then explain the challenges that they pose to current theories of linguistics and psycholinguistics. For instance, many theories presume a sequential processing of information based on the sequential nature of spoken languages. How do theories cope with the greater amount of simultaneity in sign languages?
Thanks to Oxford University Press, The history of psycholinguistics will be available afterwards for € 29,95 in stead of € 44,95 (PIN ONLY). Drinks afterwards are also courtesy of OUP.
About the speakers
Pim Levelt is the founder and emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, where his research focused on the process of speaking. His most important recent books are Speaking: from Intention to Articulation (1989) and A History of Psycholinguistics – The Pre-Chomskyan Era (2013). From 2002 to 2005 he was president of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW).
Anne Baker is emeritus professor of Psycholinguistics and Sign Linguistics within the Linguistics Department of the University of Amsterdam. She has researched the psycholinguistics of sign languages, particularly their acquisition by children. From 2004 to 2013 she was president of the international Sign Language and Linguistics Society (SLLS).
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