What is Psycholinguistics?

Psycholinguistics is the branch of study that has its roots in both psychology and linguistics.
It is concerned with the relationship between the human mind and language as it examines the
process that occurs in brain while producing and receiving both spoken and written discourse. It
studies psychological and neurobiological factors that affect language competence and
performance. It encompasses different aspects of language acquisition to syntax and semantics,
phonology and morphology.
Psycholinguistics involves language processing, lexical storage and retrieval. It includes
internal and external factors that impact language development (how damage to the brain can affect
certain aspects of language), evolutionary explanations of why humans have the capacity to use
language and the parts of brain (including hemispheres) concerned with different areas of
language, language acquisition (how language is first used by children: learn grammar rules and
communicate with other people), and second language acquisition and use. So, psycholinguistic
study gives knowledge of underlying processes of language in the human mind, how come we
store linguistic information and understand each and other in communication.
In short, Psycholinguistic intends to study biological and neurological factors that enables
humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce knowledge.