Week 5: Lexical Storage Flashcards
Define: LEXICAL STORAGE
How words are stored in the mind in relation to each other
Define: LEXICAL RETRIEVAL
How we reach (or find) a word when we need it
Define: NETWORK
A series of connections - Words are linked by a network of forms and meanings, so the things we store are connected
What are the two types of RETRIEVAL?
- Selection
- Phonological encoding
What are the 4 types of WORD RELATION?
- Derivation
- Co-ordination
- Collocation
- Similar Form
Define: COLLOCATION
When two words appear together frequently in everyday speech e.g. salt and pepper, fish and chips
Define: SIMILAR FORM
- Homophony (sound similar)
- Homography (orthographically similar)
What are the 4 SENSE RELATIONS?
- Synonymy
- Meronymy
- Antonymy
- Hyponymy
Define: SYNONYMY
Words that are similar in meaning, but are still contrastive and also can be swapped for one another
What are the 4 types of WORD RELATION?
- Derivation
- Co-ordination
- Collocation
- Similar Form
Define: HYPONYMY
A word whose semantic field is included with that of another word e.g. apple, fruit
Define: COMPLEMENTARY ANTONYMS
Semantically opposite, but where one applies, the other cannot e.g. day, night
Define: GRADABLE ANTONYMS
Semantically opposite, but they lie on ends of a scale e.g. big, small
Define: ACTIVATION
The key to lexical retrieval and involves access and recognition
What is COHORT THEORY?
- The basic idea is that human speech is comprehension is achieved by processing incoming speech continuously as it’s heard
- All words that begin with the first letter of the target word are activated, which creates a cohort, and this continues with each sound until the ‘recognition point’, which consists of a single word
Describe: NEURONS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FREQUENCY
- When we activate a word, a neuron fires an impulse
- The higher the frequency of the word:
> the more often it needs to be activated
> the more often the neuron needs to fire
> the stronger the neuron
> the quicker the word is activated - THUS - the higher the frequency of a word, the quicker the word is activated
Define: SEMANTIC PRIMING
It’s easier to recognise a word if you have just seen one that’s related in meaning e.g. BREAD and BUTTER
Define: FACILITATORY EFFECTS
Where processing is sped up e.g. BREAD and BUTTER
Define: INHIBITORY EFFECTS
Where processing is slowed down e.g. BREAD and CHAIR
What is SPREADING ACTIVATION THEORY?
- The idea is that activation (like an electrical impulse) runs along the connections that link the words in our minds
- When we see or hear a word, it ‘triggers off’ a reaction, which ‘lights up’ words which have close connections to the stem word
- Thus, those words are more readily available to us if we need them
What can evidence from SLIPS OF THE TONGUE show about lexical access and retrieval?
It can show how words are stored and accessed in the mental lexicon.
- If two things are similar to each other and are involved in the same level of processing, they’ll either assist or interfere with each other, but if unrelated there will be no effect
Define: SLIPS OF THE TONGUE
‘Errors’ of speech production
Define: DERIVATION
One word is derived from another, maintaining a semantic connection e.g. HAPPY, UNHAPPY
Define: CO-ORDINATION
Refers to two words that appear together a lot, and are often, but not always, collocations
