Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon

by JeanAitchison (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.25

  Words in the Mind deals with words, and how humans learn them, remember them, understand them, and find the ones they want. It discusses the structure and content of the human word-store or 'mental lexicon, with particular reference to the spoken language of native English speakers. * Discusses the structure and content of the human word-store, or 'mental lexicon'. * Features a highly informative and accessible account of a central area of research. * Incorporates new research on the mental lexicon. * Written by a prominent researcher of the mental lexicon, language change, and the language of the media.

• Used

  Paperback
  1987

  $3.25

  This volume about words, and the extraordinary human capacity to store and retrieve them. We hold effortlessly at least 50,000 of them in our minds, the majority of which can be summoned in a split second. No computer has yet come anywhere near simulating the complexities of the internal word-store. This book provides an up-to-date introduction to man's prodigious mental lexicon . Using evidence from slips of the tongue , the word-finding problems of aphasics, psycholinguistic experiments and the research of theoretical linguists, it describes: how man deals with this fluctuating mass of words; how people use fluid prototypes rather than fixed definitions for coping with meaning; how we extend old words and create new ones. The book compares the verbal resources of adults and children, and assesses recent competing theories as to how we seek out the lexical items we need. It is designed both for students embarking on psycholinguistics courses, and for anyone who has ever puzzled about the human word-store.