PsychologyJuly 17, 2026

psycholinguistics

/ˌsaɪkəʊˌlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/

Definition

The scientific study of the cognitive processes that enable humans to acquire, produce, and understand language.

Etymology

The term is a compound formed from 'psycho-' (related to the mind or psychology) and 'linguistics' (the scientific study of language). It emerged in the mid-20th century to describe the interdisciplinary field bridging psychological experimentation and linguistic analysis.

In the news

The authors list psycholinguistics as a core area of expertise for Team Emoji, highlighting its importance in researching how people mentally process emoji alongside words. It provides the framework for testing whether emoji function like language in emotional communication.

Emoji & Psychological Research: Introducing Team Emoji

Read the full article ↗

Emojipedia Blog

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