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Are lexical representations graded or discrete?

Leon Li1, Andrés Buxó-Lugo2, Cassandra L Jacobs2

  • 1Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|June 29, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study investigated mental lexical representations (lemmas) and word meanings. Findings suggest that unrelated and related word meanings may share multiple lemmas, challenging discrete lemma theories.

Keywords:
Polysemymental lexiconpicture-word interference task

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Lexical Semantics

Background:

  • Traditional models propose discrete mental lexical representations (lemmas) corresponding to distinct word meanings.
  • Homophones (e.g., 'bat') are thought to have separate lemmas for unrelated meanings, while polysemes (e.g., 'paper') share a single lemma for related senses.
  • However, cognitive processes are often graded, prompting investigation into whether lemmas are also graded.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore whether mental lexical representations (lemmas) are discrete or graded.
  • To examine the semantic processing of homophones and polysemes using a picture-word interference paradigm.
  • To test the multiple-lemma versus core-lemma account of polysemy.

Main Methods:

  • A preregistered picture-word interference study was conducted.
  • Participants named pictures, with semantic competitors presented for non-depicted meanings of homophones and polysemes.
  • Naming times were analyzed to infer lemma structure based on facilitation or inhibition effects.

Main Results:

  • Semantic competitors to non-depicted senses of both homophones and polysemes unexpectedly facilitated picture naming.
  • This facilitation effect, observed across varying degrees of semantic relatedness, contradicts predictions of discrete lemma models for polysemes.
  • Results did not definitively distinguish between graded and discrete lemma structures but provided evidence for polysemy.

Conclusions:

  • The findings support a multiple-lemma account for polysemes over a core-lemma account.
  • The study challenges the assumption of a single, shared lemma for related senses of polysemous words.
  • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the graded versus discrete nature of mental lexical representations.