Psycholinguistics, I'd
argue, is a set of areas of
study which
overlaps as much into the
core interest area of
linguistics-
language- as that of
psychology- the (usually
human)
mind. And I don't just say this because I'm a
psycholinguist in a
linguistics department.
Theoretical ideas in
linguistics can be tested through
psychological methods to see if it just
looks pretty, or if it
represents any of
the truth about how
real people use
real language. Thus we keep the
flightier kinds of
linguist grounded, and pull the eyes of the more single-language-focused
type towards the
bigger picture. We're pretty much the
superheroes of the Linguistics department. What we'd do in a psychology department I'm less sure. Make the tea, maybe?