Talking / Language Production

In More than Words, I used the term “talking” to refer to all ways of producing language—speaking, writing, and signing in a sign language. Researchers call this “language production.” The papers in this section are all trying to get at how language production works: How do we humans turn an internal idea or goal to communicate into language that’s coming out of someone’s mouth or hands?

Psycholinguists study these mental processes to better understand how the mind works, how language is used and represented in the brain, and also for potential practical benefits. A better understanding of how talking works may help those with language impairments, help parents and teachers understand the benefits of talking, help us communicate better.

Researchers often study talking in different languages in part to check whether our results are or are not tied to a particular language or culture. The research in the papers below was conducted mostly in English but also includes studies of people speaking Spanish, Serbian, Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin. 

Some of my work here helped me work though issues in More than Words about how the nature of talking shapes our world. A good example is MacDonald (2013) (a review article marked with a *), which suggests how the nature of language production affects the form of human languages. Another is Koranda et al. (2022), which is about how the brain cuts corners to make talking just “good enough” for conversation.

* Indicates that the article offers review, new theory, or response to other researchers.

Published Articles on Talking / Language Production

Jacobs, C.L. & MacDonald, M.C. (2023).
A chimpanzee by any other name: The contributions of utterance context and information density on word choice.
Cognition, 230. 105265

Gussow, A. E., & MacDonald, M. C. (2023).
Utterance planning under message uncertainty: Evidence from a novel picture-naming paradigm.
Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience.

Koranda, M.J., Zettersten, M. & MacDonald, M.C. (2022).
Good enough production: Speakers choose easy words over more precise ones.
Psychological Science. 33(9), 1440-14.

Montag, J.L., Matsuki, K., Kim, J. & MacDonald, M.C. (2017).
Language specific and language general motivations of production choices: A multi-clause and multi-language investigation. 
Collabra: Psychology 3(1) 20.

Hsiao, Y. & MacDonald, M.C. (2016).
Production predicts comprehension: Animacy effects in Mandarin relative clause processing. 
Journal of Memory and Language. 89, 87-109.  

MacDonald, M.C., Montag, J.L. & Gennari, S.P. (2016).
Are there really syntactic complexity effects in sentence production? A reply to Scontras et al. (2015).
Cognitive Science, 40, 513-518.

Montag, J.L. & MacDonald, M.C. (2015).
Text exposure predicts spoken production of complex sentences in eight and twelve-year old children and adults. 
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144, 447-468.

Hsiao, Y., Gao, Y., & MacDonald M.C. (2014).
Agent-patient similarity affects sentence structure in language production: Evidence from subject omissions in Mandarin.
Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1015.

Montag, J.L. & MacDonald, M.C. (2014).
Visual salience modulates structure choice in relative clause production. 
Language and Speech, 57, 163-180.

Mirković, J. & MacDonald, M.C. (2013). 
When singular and plural are both grammatical:  Semantic and morphophonological effects in agreement. 
Journal of Memory and Language. 69, 277-298.

*MacDonald, M.C. (2013).
How language production shapes language form and comprehension. 
Frontiers in Psychology, 4:226.

*MacDonald, M.C. (2013).
Production is at the left edge of the PDC but still central: Response to commentaries.
Frontiers in Psychology, 4:227.

Gennari, S.P., Mirković, J. & MacDonald, M.C. (2012).
Animacy and competition in relative clause production: A cross-linguistic investigation.
Cognitive Psychology, 65, 141-176.

Stallings, L.M. & MacDonald, M.C. (2011).
It's not just the "Heavy NP":  Relative phrase length modulates the production of heavy-NP shift.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 40, 177-187.

Haskell, T.R., Thornton, R., & MacDonald, M.C. (2010).
Experience and grammatical agreement:  Statistical learning shapes number agreement production.
Cognition, 114, 151-164.

MacDonald, M.C. & Thornton, R. (2009). 
When language comprehension reflects production constraints:  Resolving ambiguities with the help of past experience. 
Memory & Cognition, 37, 1177-1186.

Seidenberg, M. S., MacDonald, M. C., & Haskell, T. R. (2007).
Semantics and phonology constrain compound formation.
The Mental Lexicon, 2(3), 287–312.

Haskell, T. & MacDonald, M.C. (2005).
Constituent structure and linear order in language production: evidence from subject-verb agreement. 
Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Learning, Memory & Cognition, 35, 891-904.

Mirković, J., MacDonald, M. C. and Seidenberg, M. S. (2005).
Where does gender come from? Evidence from a complex inflectional system.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 20, 139-167.

Haskell, T., MacDonald, M.C. & Seidenberg, M.S. (2003). 
Language learning and innateness: Some implications of compounds research. 
Cognitive Psychology, 47, 119-163.

Haskell, T. & MacDonald, M.C. (2003). 
Conflicting cues and competition in subject verb agreement.
Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 760-778.

Thornton, R. & MacDonald, M.C. (2003).
Plausibility and grammatical agreement. 
Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 740-759.

Stallings, L., MacDonald, M.C. & O'Seaghdha, P.G. (1998).
Phrasal ordering constraints in production:  Phrase length and verb disposition in heavy-NP shift.
Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 392-417.