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All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysuru
(An Autonomous institute Under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.)

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Asymmetries between language production and comprehension /

Hendriks, Petra, 1964-,

Asymmetries between language production and comprehension / Petra Hendriks. - xi, 234 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm. - Studies in theoretical psycholinguistics, v. 42 1873-0043 ; . - Studies in theoretical psycholinguistics ; v. 42. .

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Understanding and misunderstanding -- Asymmetries in language acquisition -- The listener's perspective -- The speaker's perspective -- Symmetry and asymmetry across languages -- Competing perspectives -- Appendix.

This book asserts that language is a signaling system rather than a code, based in part on such research as the finding that 5-year-old English and Dutch children use pronouns correctly in their own utterances, but often fail to interpret these forms correctly when used by someone else. Emphasizing the unique and sometimes competing demands of listener and speaker, the author examines resulting asymmetries between production and comprehension. The text offers examples of the interpretation of word order and pronouns by listeners, and word order freezing and referential choice by speakers. It is explored why the usual symmetry breaks down in children but also sometimes in adults. Gathering contemporary insights from theoretical linguistic research, psycholinguistic studies and computational modeling, 'Asymmetries between language production and comprehension' presents a unified explanation of this phenomenon.Includes bibliographical references and index.

9789400769007 (hbk. : acidfree paper) 9400769008 (hbk. : acidfree paper)

2013943119

016424813 Uk


Asymmetry (Linguistics)
Language and languages.
Language acquisition.

P299.A85 / H46 2014

415.HEN