Minds ExploredBy Evidence Press

Learning path

From recognising words to understanding sentences

Tracks linguistic units and processing questions from words through structure to discourse.

For: Readers moving from a general introduction to specific language-processing questions.

What you will work towards

  • Separate a linguistic unit from a process that makes it available.
  • Represent two structural interpretations of the same sentence.
  • Explain what context adds beyond word meanings and sentence structure.
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Download the ordered reading list

  1. Open Yale Courses · Source-checked annotation

    Lecture 6 - How Do We Communicate?: Language in the Brain, Mouth and the Hands

    Open Yale Courses Speaker not established foundation Duration unknown

    Start with a broad account of language so that sound, word, structure and meaning are available as separate questions.

    Try this

    Make four columns: signal, word, sentence and context. Place one question from the lecture in each.

    Access not confirmedOriginal source ↗Watch at source ↗

  2. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

    Lecture 17: Word Meaning & Lexical Access

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established Level not established Duration unknown

    The lexical-access sequence narrows the route to how relevant word knowledge becomes available.

    Try this

    Choose a familiar word and distinguish its form, meaning and grammatical use. State what a recognition task would ask a participant to do.

    Access evidence checkedOriginal source ↗Watch at source ↗

  3. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

    Lecture 18: Lexical Access

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established Level not established Duration unknown

    Continue the same course’s lexical-access treatment before moving to larger units.

    Try this

    Compare recognising the word with trying to produce it. Specify what would count as an error in each task.

    Access evidence checkedOriginal source ↗Watch at source ↗

  4. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

    Lecture 21: What is a sentence?

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established Level not established Duration unknown

    Now make the sentence the unit of analysis, while retaining the distinction between structure and processing.

    Try this

    Write a sentence whose final phrase could modify two different things. Give the two interpretations without yet claiming how a listener chooses.

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  5. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

    Lecture 22: Parsing Sentences - 1

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established Level not established Duration unknown

    The first parsing lecture begins the course’s explicit sequence on assigning structure during comprehension.

    Try this

    Draw or paraphrase the two structural analyses. State one observation that a proposed processing account would need to explain.

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  6. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

    Lecture 23: Parsing Sentences - 2

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established Level not established Duration unknown

    The second parsing lecture provides continuity rather than a disconnected overview of the same label.

    Try this

    Write two competing predictions about when ambiguity might affect a response. Identify the task and comparison needed to distinguish them.

    Access evidence checkedOriginal source ↗Watch at source ↗

  7. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

    Lec 03 : Discourse - I

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established Level not established Duration unknown

    Discourse changes the scale from one sentence to connected communication and shared context.

    Try this

    Add a preceding sentence that favours each interpretation. Explain what the context changes and what structural ambiguity remains.

    Access not confirmedOriginal source ↗Watch at source ↗

A short starting route

Steps 1, 2, 3. This introduction and lexical-access pair form a focused route through word knowledge before sentence processing.

Continue more deeply

Continue the parsing sequence in Introduction to Psychology of Language, then compare comprehension with production. Continue at source ↗

Limits of this route

The official ordered NPTEL outlines establish the intended progression; they do not establish the details of a processing theory or its present scientific standing. The Yale introductory lecture is from 2007. Structural analyses in the exercise are not evidence of a particular brain mechanism. This is an agent editorial check, not human peer review or independent scientific assessment.

Sources and editorial check · 2026-11-07

The recorded official publisher overviews/course outlines and supporting reading sections; the sequence, reasons and tasks were checked individually. No full-video viewing.

Checked by agent. This is not human peer review.

  1. Lecture 6 - How Do We Communicate?: Language in the Brain, Mouth and the Hands — official publisher material

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Official lecture Overview paragraph. Transcript is linked or included on the page but was not read in full; video not viewed.

  2. Introduction to the Psychology of Language — official course outline

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Official ordered lecture outline and course attribution inspected. No substantive course description was supplied; the item is selected for its named topic and place in the outline only. No individual transcript read or video viewed.

  3. The Psychology of Language — official course outline

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Official course description, relevant syllabus entries and ordered lecture outline inspected; selection uses the named topic and sequence, not an invented account of the recording. No individual transcript read or video viewed.

  4. Language and language use — Yoshihisa Kashima

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Introduction and How Do We Use Language section read, including common ground, conversational coordination and audience design.

  5. 7.4 The mental lexicon — Essentials of Linguistics, second edition

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Rendered chapter body on stored linguistic information, predictable rules, morphemes and idioms read. Hash identifies the saved rendered-source bundle, not raw HTML.

  6. 6.17 Structural ambiguity in syntax — Essentials of Linguistics

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Rendered chapter explanation and prepositional-phrase attachment example read. Hash identifies the saved rendered-source bundle, not raw HTML.

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