Language in Mind

It's by far the best textbook on this subject. Sedivy's research background and her skills as a science writer make a great combination."
- Adele Goldberg, Princeton University


The clarity and depth of Sediy's chapters have helped decrease the time I feel I need to spend introducing and explaining concepts."
- Zenzi Griffin, University of Texas, Austin


Sedivy's book strikes a really good balance in its articulate and intelligent presentation, its breadth of information, and cool graphics."
- Ralf Thiede, University of North Carolina

Julie Sedivy combines a strong background in academic research and teaching with a keen interest in scientific and literary writing for non-academic audiences. She received her Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Rochester, where she was involved in pioneering research in the use of eye movement methods for studying spoken language comprehension. She held an academic appointment in the Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences at Brown University from 1997 to 2009, where she continued her interdisciplinary research program, and garnered consistently outstanding teaching reviews. She has published more than thirty articles and chapters and has served as Associate Editor for Linguistics and Philosophy, and as Consulting Editor for the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition. She currently holds an adjunct appointment at the University of Calgary and divides her time between research/teaching and writing. She is the lead author of the popular science book Sold on Language: How Advertisers Talk to You and What This Says About You (John Wiley and Sons), and blogs regularly for outlets such as Discover Magazine and Language Log.

Chapter 1. Science, Language, and the Science of Language Chapter 2. Origins of Human Language Chapter 3. Language and the Brain Chapter 4. Learning Sound Patterns Chapter 5. Learning Words Chapter 6. Learning the Structure of Sentences Chapter 7. Speech Perception Chapter 8. Word Recognition Chapter 9. Understanding Sentence Structure and Meaning Chapter 10. Speaking: From Planning to Articulation Chapter 11. Discourse and Inference Chapter 12. The Social Side of Language Chapter 13. Language Diversity Glossary Literature Cited Author Index Subject Index