psycholinguistics: the Psychological Processes of language Comprehension and Production

Abstract

The foundations of psycholinguistics were laid in the nineteenth century, when pioneering psychologists initiated key investigations that eventually led to the formal development of this interdisciplinary field. Psycholinguistics represents a systematic synthesis of linguistics and psychology, aiming to explain how language is perceived, processed, and produced by the human mind the primary objective of this study is to explore the fundamental principles of psycholinguistics, with a particular focus on the mental mechanisms underlying language comprehension and language production, and to introduce these concepts within the framework of the Pashto language. The study further seeks to clarify how these linguistic and psychological processes interact to facilitate human communication. The methodology adopted for this research is descriptive and bibliographic, drawing upon the latest scholarly sources and theoretical contributions in the field of psycholinguistics. The findings indicate that psycholinguistics has achieved significant progress in understanding the complex cognitive and neural operations involved in human language processing. These advancements, supported by developments in modern technology, have provided profound insights into how individuals perceive, interpret, and interact with their linguistic environment, thereby enhancing our comprehension of human cognition and communication.