A Neural Network Model of Lexical Organisation

by Michael Fortescue, Siobhan Chapman (Editor)

Overview

This is an engaging study of the mental lexicon: the way in which the form and meaning of words is stored by speakers of specific languages. Fortescue attempts to narrow the gap between the results of experimental neurology and the concerns of theoretical linguistics in the area of lexical semantics. The prime goal as regards linguistic theory is to show how matters of lexical organization can be analysed and discussed within a neurologically informed framework that is both adaptable and constrained.

It combines the perspectives of distributed network modelling and linguistic semantics, and draws upon the accruing evidence from neuroimaging studies as regards the cortical regions involved. It engages with a number of controversial current issues in both disciplines. This text is intended as a tool for linguists interested in psychological adequacy and the latest advances in Cognitive Science.  It provides a principled means of distinguishing those semantic features required by a mental lexicon that have a direct bearing on grammar from those that do not.  A Neural Network Model of Lexical Organisation is essential reading for researchers in neurolinguistics and lexical semantics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441111432
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/10/2009
Series:	Continuum Studies in Theoretical Linguistics , #3
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Fortescue is Professor of General Linguistics in the Department of Scandinavian Studies and Linguistics of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Table of Contents

Part 1 The Basics

1 Introduction 1

1.1 The mental lexicon 1

1.2 The nature of the model 4

2 Some Sample Word Templates 13

2.1 A noun template 13

2.2 Nouns versus verbs 18

2.3 Other parts of speech 23

2.4 A 'derived' word 26

3 The Production and Comprehension of Simple Sentences 30

4 Expansion to a Complex Sentence 37

4.1 Some new word types 37

4.2 Production of a complex sentence - and an inference 46

5 Further Dimensions of the Model 49

5.1 Relating event structures 49

5.2 Nominalizations and abstract nouns 54

5.3 Some loose ends 57

Summary of Part 1 65

Part 2 Applications

6 Semantic Fields and Lexical Categories 71

7 Compositionality 78

7.1 Nominal composition 78

7.2 Verbal decomposition 80

7.3 More on causal derivation 86

7.4 Complex word meaning: a test case for compositionality 88

8 Constructions 95

9 Polysemy 102

9.1 Polysemy and context 102

9.2 An excursion into metaphor and metonymy 106

10 Some Further Questions of qualia 111

11 Extensions to Languages of Different Morphological Type 118

Summary of Part 2 132

Part 3 Cognitive Justification of the Model

12 The Interfacing of Grammar and Lexicon 137

12.1 Grammar templates 137

12.2 The realization of grammatical and semantic features by call trees 140

12.3 How call trees and combination matrices might function 147

13 The Neural Representation of Context 153

14 Acquisition 161

15 Prospective Conclusions 168

15.1 The justification for separating affordance levels 168

15.2 Potential (dis) confirmation of the model 171

Appendix 1 The Relationship to Burnod's Neurological Model 177

Appendix 2 Paradigmatic Features of English Words 185

Appendix 3 Sample Derivations 193

List of Templates and Graphic Conventions 195

Notes 199

References 230

Index 235