Abstract
This book was written as a resource for teaching language production at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level or for initiating trainees on the topic more generally. Some basic knowledge of cognitive psychology and linguistics is assumed. These materials only exist thanks to the help of the authors of the different sections. Sections are written by relatively young, yet expert researchers. They are then reviewed, when possible, by a senior researcher to ensure accuracy of the content and/or by a student (i.e., the target audience) for clarity. This book emerged from my frustration with finding appropriate introductory materials on the (neuro)psychology of language production. Existing resources are not accessible, in my opinion. Peer-reviewed articles are not introductory enough, which makes them hard to use for teaching at the Bachelor’s level or for initiating students on the topic more generally. Books, including handbooks, besides being very expensive, are too big; instead of getting an introduction to the topic, you get an entire book on the topic, so you can’t just use it as required reading for one lecture. Finally, I have never found a single chapter in a Psychology textbook that does a proper job covering language production. All textbooks I have found so far have one chapter on “Language,” which is 90% (guesstimate) focused on comprehension/perception, or treats speech production as a motor activity, not delving into much further than motor control. The sections are short and the entire chapter can be read for one to a couple of lectures. Rather than covering any topic in depth, it illustrates the breadth of language-production research. You can choose which sections to skip or in what order to read them or use for lectures. Most (if not all) of the sections’ content were written to be self-containing as much as possible (References to the other relevant sections are provided); Use the suggested reading as you see fit, for example for assignments related to the section. You can also live without it if you are looking for a lighter version of the content
