On the Evolving Connections Between Psychology and Linguistics
Author(s)
Segalowitz, Norman
Abstract
Over four decades ago the so-called Chomskyan revolution appeared to lay the foundation for a promising new partnership between linguistics and psychology. Many have now concluded, however, that the hopes originally expressed for this partnership were not realized. This chapter is about what went wrong and where we might go from here. The discussion first identifies three reasons why initial efforts at partnership may have been inherently flawed-divergent criteria for choosing among competing theories, different ideas about what was to be explained, and different approaches to questions about biology and environment. I then argue that recent developments-especially in associative learning theory, in cognitive neuroscience, and in linguistic theory-may provide a more solid basis for partnership. Next, the chapter describes two possible ways that bridges between the disciplines might develop. The chapter concludes that an enduring partnership between linguistics and psychology may indeed now be possible and that there may be a special role for applied linguistics in this new development.
