ABSTRACT
Overview: The principal subdivisions employed within the cognitive psychology of language are outlined. The chapter then focuses on one subdivision, syntax, or the well-formedness of word sequences. Several computational and psychological dimensions of the problem of checking well-formedness (parsing) are discussed, and these dimensions are used to structure a presentation of four models of the parsing process, ranging from a relatively straightforward model based on bottom-up parallel processing, to a complex but more psychologically plausible model combining bottom-up and top-down influences, serial processing, and backtracking. The chapter concludes with a discussion of alternative approaches to sentence processing, including principle-based parsing and the use of semantics or meaning during parsing.
