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    This document discusses the structure and organization of the mental lexicon. It addresses questions about what types of information need to be stored about words and how people are able to retrieve words quickly during communication. The final chapter will examine how the mental lexicon is highly organized, not a disorganized pile of words, and will synthesize concepts from previous chapters. It stresses that word morphology connects to other linguistic areas like phonology and syntax. Technical terms are defined in an included glossary.

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    This document discusses the structure and organization of the mental lexicon. It addresses questions about what types of information need to be stored about words and how people are able to retrieve words quickly during communication. The final chapter will examine how the mental lexicon is highly organized, not a disorganized pile of words, and will synthesize concepts from previous chapters. It stresses that word morphology connects to other linguistic areas like phonology and syntax. Technical terms are defined in an included glossary.

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    This document discusses the structure and organization of the mental lexicon. It addresses questions about what types of information need to be stored about words and how people are able to retrieve words quickly during communication. The final chapter will examine how the mental lexicon is highly organized, not a disorganized pile of words, and will synthesize concepts from previous chapters. It stresses that word morphology connects to other linguistic areas like phonology and syntax. Technical terms are defined in an included glossary.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    6 views1 page

    3

    Uploaded by

    flynnleighh
    This document discusses the structure and organization of the mental lexicon. It addresses questions about what types of information need to be stored about words and how people are able to retrieve words quickly during communication. The final chapter will examine how the mental lexicon is highly organized, not a disorganized pile of words, and will synthesize concepts from previous chapters. It stresses that word morphology connects to other linguistic areas like phonology and syntax. Technical terms are defined in an included glossary.

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    The following chapter continues the discussion of the role of the lexicon.

    It
    attempts to answer questions like ‘what is lexicon for?’ ‘What items need to be listed in
    the dictionary?’ ‘What is the difference between idioms (like to nail one’s colours to
    the most) and syntactic phrases (like to nail a notice to the door)?’ The next two chapters
    highlight the fact that the English word-store is vast and infinitely expandable. First, in
    Chapter 9 we consider the ways in which, using the internal resources of the language,
    speakers are able to produce an indefinitely large number of words. In Chapter 20
    attention shifts to the expansion of English vocabulary through the importation of
    countless words from other languages. The story of imported words is in many ways
    also the story of that contacts that speakers of English have had with speakers of other
    languages over the centuries.
    Most of the space in this book is devoted to an examination of the structure of
    English words. But the analysis of word-structure is seen not as an end in itself, but
    rather as a means to an end. And that end is to understand what it means to know a word.
    What sorts of information about words do you need to have in order to use them in
    communication? So the final chapter is devoted to the MENTAL LEXICON. It
    addresses the question, ‘how is it that people are able to store a vast number of words in
    the mind and to retrieve the right one so fast in communication/’ We will see that words
    are not piled in a muddle in the mind. Rather, the mental lexicon is very highly
    organized. This concluding chapter will also pull together the various strands developed
    in the earlier chapters.
    I have already stressed the point that morphology is not a self-contained module
    of language. Any discussion of word-formation touches on other areas of linguistics,
    notably phonology and syntax, so I have provided a key to the list of pronunciation
    symbols at the beginning of the book. I have also included at the end a glossary of
    linguistic terms (many of them from other branches of linguistics) which might be
    unfamiliar. But still I may have missed out some terms. If you encounter any unfamiliar
    technical terms that are not explained in this book, I suggest that you consult a good
    dictionary of linguistics like Crystal (1991). Sometimes it is useful to present data using
    phonetic notation. A key to the phonetic symbols used is to be found on pp. xix-xx.
    After this introductory chapter, all chapters contain exercises. Several of the
    analytical exercises require you to look up words and parts of words in a good dictionary
    like the Oxford English Dictionary. Access to such a dictionary is essential when you
    study this book. This is practical way of learning about the structure of English words
    (and may also be a useful way of enriching your vocabulary).

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