Words in the Mind

Jean Aitchison is Emeritus Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication at the University of Oxford. She is the author of numerous books on language, including Language Change: Progress or Decay? (Third Edition, 2001), The Word Weavers: Newshounds and Wordsmiths (2007), Aitchison's Linguistics (Seventh Edition, 2010), and The Articulate Mammal (Routledge Classics Edition, 2011).

• Preface ix Acknowledgments xiAbbreviations and Symbols xiiiPart I: Aims and Evidence 11 Welcome to Dictionopolis! 3The human word-store2 Links in the Chain 18Assessing the evidence3 Programming Dumbella 32Modeling the mental lexicon4 Brainy Matters 42The physical underlayPart II: Basic Ingredients 515 Slippery Customers 53Attempts to pin down the meaning of words6 Bad Birds and Better Birds 66Prototype theories7 Whispering Chambers of the Imagination 80Mental models8 The Primordial Atomic Globule Hunt 90The search for semantic primitives9 Word-webs 99Semantic networks10 Close Companions 113Words which cling together11 Lexical All-sorts 119Parts of speech12 Verb Power 131The role of verbs13 Bits of Words 145The internal architecture of words14 Taking Care of the Sounds 157Dealing with the sound patternsPart III: Newcomers 16915 Multiple Meanings 171The polysemy problem16 Interpreting Ice-cream Cones 182Metaphor and metonymy17 Globbering Mattresses 194Creating new words18 What is a Bongaloo, Daddy? 209How children learn the meaning of words19 Aggergog Miggers, Wips and Gucks 222How children cope with the sounds of wordsPart IV: The Overall Picture 23520 Seeking and Finding 237Selecting words21 Organized Guesswork 248Recognizing words22 Odd Arrangements and Funny Solutions 261The organization of the mental lexicon23 Last Word 267Final comments and future questionsNotes 270References 292Index 327