"Motority" in three functional domains of word meaning

This article deals with relations between "mental motor" evoking capacity ("motority," Putnoky, 1975a, b) and the sensory and affective connotations, as well as certain denotations, of words. Sensory connotation is indexed by degree of visual, auditory, and tactual imagery, as assessed on a 7-point scale, while affective connotation is indexed by the usual three factors tapped by the semantic differential. The aspect of denotation used here is the abstractness value of words, also based on rating by scales. The general conclusions about motority are as follows: (1) the finding that its sensory connotations are mainly via the auditory modality of imagery, and especially in correlation with abstract words, suggests that it has a specific function that may have originated in the processing of heard language; (2) it correlates with the potency and activity factors of affective connation, which suggests the existence of a nonspecific function or component in it; (3) correlations with abstractness reflect that motority must have a denotative function or component, especially in case of abstract verbal stimuli. On the basis of the results, motority is supposed to play a regulative role at higher levels of the organization of word meaning in particular.