Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, InspiringThis Very Short Introduction to psycholinguistics is an accessible and engaging description of how people use language. Talking and understanding language probably seem like simple and straightforward skills, but research in psycholinguistics has shown that complex computations take place behind the scenes when you communicate with others. Recent debates concerning how AI tools such as ChatGPT work highlight some of these core questions about the language faculty and how it is that humans comprehend, produce, and learn language. The book begins with an overview of the fields of linguistics and psychology and how they have cooperated from the earliest days of psycholinguistics. It then considers how words and sentences are interpreted, how they are generated, and how human conversation is coordinated. The book also reviews research on reading, sign language processing, and bilingualism. The closing chapter summarizes where the field i