Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon

Abstract

Preface. Acknowledgements. Abbreviations and Symbols. Part I: Aims and Evidence:. 1. Welcome to Dictionopolis!. The human word-store. 2. Links in the Chain. Assessing the evidence. 3. Programming Dumbella. Modelling the mental lexicon. Part II: Basic Ingredients:. 4. Slippery Customers. Attempts to pin down the meaning of words. 5. Bad Birds and Better Birds. Prototype theories. 6. Whispering Chambers of the Imagination. Mental models. 7. The Primordial Atomic Globule Hunt. The search for semantic primitives. 8. Word-webs. Semantic networks. 9. Lexical All-sorts. Parts of speech. 10. Verb Power. The role of verbs. 11. Bits of Words. The internal architecture of words. 12. Taking Care of the Sounds. Dealing with the sound patterns. Part III: Newcomers:. 13. Drifting Words. Layering and meaning change. 14. Interpreting Ice-cream Cones. Extending old words. 15. Globbering Mattresses. Creating new words. 16. What is a Bongaloo, Daddy?. How children learn the meaning of words. 17. Aggergog Miggers, Wips and Gucks. How children cope with the sound structure of words. Part IV: The Overall Picture:. 18. Seeking and Finding. Selecting words. 19. Organized Guesswork. Recognizing words. 20. Odd Arrangements and Funny Solutions. The organization of the mental lexicon. 21. Last Word. Final comments and future questions. Notes. References. Index.