A Neural Network Model of Lexical Organization

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.

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.

Part 1: The Basics1. Introduction1.1 The mental lexicon1.2 The nature of the model2. Some sample word templates2.1 A noun template2.2 Nouns versus verbs2.3 Other parts of speech2.4 A "derived" word     3. The production and comprehension of simple sentences4. Expansion to a complex sentence4.1 Some new word types4.2 Production of a complex sentence - and an inference5. Further dimensions of the model5.1 Relating event structures5.2 Nominalizations and abstract nouns5.3 Some loose endsSummary of Part 1Part 2: Applications6. Semantic fields and lexical categories7. Compositionality7.1 Nominal composition7.2 Verbal decomposition7.3 More on causal derivation7.4 Complex word meaning: a test case for compositionality8. Constructions9. Polysemy9.1 Polysemy and context9.2 An excursion into metaphor and metonymy10. Some further questions of qualia11. Extensions to languages of different morphological typeSummary of Part 2Part 3: Cognitive Justification of the Model12. The interfacing of grammar and lexicon12.1 Grammar templates12.2 The realization of grammatical and semantic features by call trees12.3 How call trees and combination matrixes might function13. The neural representation of context14. Acquisition15. Prospective conclusions15.1 The justification for separating affordance levels  15.2 Potential (dis)confirmation of the modelAppendix 1: The relationship to Burnod's neurological modelAppendix 2: Paradigmatic features of English wordsAppendix 3: Sample derivationsList of templatesGraphic conventions as first introducedReferencesIndex