Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Theory

The mental representation of language cannot be directly accessed but can only be inferred from its effects second hand. This book is a collection of papers from current research into language knowledge by systematic observational and experimental means. The articles show the wide range of methods adopted and the ingenuity required to tease out firm answers about language structure and processing. This work shows how controlled methods can advance our understanding of language, one of the defining features of humanity.