A Psycholinguistic Approach to Mental Lexicon
explanatory Essay
2047 words
Introduction
The study of the mental lexicon deals with how words are acquired, comprehended, organized, stored, retrieved, and produces. The term “mental lexicon” is used interchangeably with what some scholars refer to as “internal lexicon” (Bonin, 2004). It involves the different processes and activations done in the brain in order to store the words and form an internal memory which functions as a mental dictionary. Psychologist and linguists who are concerned with this study believe that words are stored in relation to their phonological, semantic, syntactic and even orthographical features.
Early studies in this field were established by the end of the 1960s. The major focus of the studies was on the comprehension and production of the words. Most of the studies were oriented to psychology. The introduction of this concept into linguistics shifted the attention to the phonological, semantic, and syntactic representations in the mind. Aitchison (1994) described mental lexicon as the permanent human dictionary in which words and their meanings are stored in the brain. On the other hand, Richards (2000) described mental lexicon as the organized mental representations of the concepts and knowledge which are related to the words. There are three scopes of word knowledge; phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic.
I. Phonological Knowledge
The focus on the phonological mental memory was first initiated by Paul Meara (1980). He argued that the organization of words in memory depend on the phonological knowledge of the words in second language acquisition. However, in first language acquisition the memory depends on the semantic knowledge. Mear (1980) conducted a study on lexical performance in fir...
... middle of paper ...
... 15-31.
Prarthana,S. & Prema, K. (2012). Role of Semantics in the Organization of Mental Lexicon. Language in India.259-277.
Richards, J. C., Platt, J., & Plat, H. (2000). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Roux, p. (2013).Words in the Mind: Exploring the Relationship between Word Association and Lexical Development. Journal of Polyglossia, pp. 80-91.
Singleton, D. (1999). Exploring the Second Language Mental Lexicon (p. 178, 236). London: Cambridge University Press.
Wolter. B. (2001). Comparing the L1 and L2 Mental Lexicon. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 23:41-69.
Zhang, C. (2009). Mental Lexicon and English Vocabulary Teaching. US-China Foreign Language, 3-7.
Zhang, S. (2004). The CLE Mental Lexicon: Nature and Developmental Pattern. Kaifeng: Henan press.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that studies on mental lexicon indicate that learners of first language have better semantic and syntactic knowledge, which makes word retention and retrieval easier.
- Explains that the study of the mental lexicon deals with how words are acquired, comprehended, organized, stored, retrieved, and produced.
- Explains that the focus on phonological mental memory was first initiated by paul meara (1980). mear conducted a study on native speakers and second language learners’ lexical abilities.
- Explains that linguistics and psycholinguists believed that the quick production of speech indicates that words are organized, and retrieved very easily.
- Explains that the representation of the mental lexicon is based on syntagmatic relations between words and group of words.
- Introduces the mental lexicon in aichison, bonin, fitzpatrick, o'gorman, prarthana, and prema.
Related
- explanatory
- analytical
- argumentative
- comparative
- What´s the Human Memory?explanatory essayWhen an individual acquires information it is processed into the memory system and must be manipulated into a form the system is capable of understanding in order for storage to take place. This information is then stored in the long term or episodic memory and is known as encoding (Baddeley, 1975). There are three ways in which information may be encoded; visual (imagery), acoustic (sound) and semantic (meaning) (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974). Acoustic coding is suggested to be the main or principle coding system concerning short-term memory (STM). If someone were to be presented with a list stating various letters or numbers, the information will be held in the STM, which would occur through rehearsal. This is a verbal process irrespective of whether the items are represented acoustically (being read out), or visually (on a piece of paper). The dominant encoding system involved in the long-term memory (LTM) however, is suggested to be semantic coding (Baddeley, 1975). Information in the LTM may be encoded visually as well as acoustically.
In this essay, the author
- Defines memory as the process of preserving information over an extended period of time. past experiences change how individuals behave and may influence how they think.
- Explains the three ways in which information may be encoded: visual (imagery), acoustic (sound) and semantic (meaning).
- Explains that memory storage is concerned with where information is stored, the extent of time the memory lasts for and the amount of information that can be stored at any given time.
- Explains levels-of-processing, a theory developed by craik and lockhart, that memory recall was heightened according to the depth by which information was processed.
- Explains that memory retrieval involves attaining information out of the storage system. there are a few differences between how information is retrieved in the stm and the ltm
- Explains that state dependent learning refers to the state in which memory retrieval is most optimal and involves the individual obtaining the same state of consciousness as when the memory was developed.
825 wordsRead More - Language and Brainexplanatory essay1. Introduction: In the last few decades, the notion of language and brain has been highlighted in different scientific fields such as: neurology, cognitive science, linguistics biology, technology and finally education. Recently, researches findings point out that the brain is a parallel processor which can perform many types of activities at the same time.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the nervous system is a biological information highway which can receive and interpret information via electrical signals.
- Explains that the human nervous system is composed of the central and the peripheral system.
- Explains that an axon conducts information in the form of electronic stimulation and transports chemical substances.
- Explains that synapses are the junction between two connected neurons. when neurotransmitters cross this gap, they send a neural signal that causes brain activity along specific circuits.
- Opines that the study of the brain and the nervous system will shed some light on how our linguistic behaviour is controlled and affected by brain.
- Explains that brown (2000) indicated that most discussions about age and acquisition claim that there is a biological time table for language acquisition in l1 and l2.
- Cites cox, t, farmer, k. j., gregg, d, mcdowell,
- Explains that the notion of language and brain has been highlighted in different scientific fields such as neurology, cognitive science, linguistics biology, technology and finally education.
- Explains that neurolinguistics is the study of the mental faculties involved in the perception, production, and acquisition of language. they also discuss the fact of neutral learning and language acquisition.
- Explains the importance of the biological and neural foundation of language learning by discussing the brain anatomy and language and brain.
- Explains that the human brain is located inside the head and protected by bones. it over controls the mental and physical activities.
- Explains that the brain is the most complex organ because it contains approximately 100 billion neurons. glial cells: play a significant role in the learning process by surrounding neurons and providing support.
- Explains that the brain is divided into three lobes: the occipital, the temporal, and the frontal. they serve as a bridge between science and practice.
- Explains that the human brain is divided into two cerebral hemispheres, the left and the right, which are both dominant and dormant.
- Explains how memory creates mental linkages by associating and placing new words into a context. long-term memory (ltm) manipulates newly learned information to build new dendrites, synaptic connections, and relational memory links.
- Explains that multi-levels of iterative brain-based accelerated learning experimentation enhance academic achievement and career goals.
- Explains that brain-based learning is a new paradigm of teaching, citing kahveci, ay, and koizumi.
1338 wordsRead More - Nativism And Linguistic Nativismanalytical essayLinguistic Nativists argue that language takes up one of those task, or domain-specific spots of the brain. This is known as the language faculty. The Linguistic Nativist view of the language faculty is that it is the part of the brain that houses whe...
In this essay, the author
- Argues that linguistic nativism addresses the question of how humans come from being silent babies to speaking children.
- Explains that nativists believe that the human brain is hard wired in the sense that it has capabilities and capacities for certain things that are not learned.
- Explains that linguistic nativists believe that humans have a natural endowment that makes the human brain very well suited to acquire language.
- Explains that the linguistic nativist view of the language faculty is that it houses where humans acquire, produce, and interpret language.
- Explains that linguistic nativism states that humans acquire language through genetic predisposition (biology) and a linguistic data set under normal conditions.
- Explains that universal grammar is another theory that comes out of linguistic nativism. it states that humans have a universal grammar that defines the underlying structure of all human languages.
- Explains that the poverty of stimulus argument is the main argument in favor of linguistic nativism. the poverty of stimulus argument argues that language should be un-learnable for children.
- Argues that the poverty of stimulus argument supports the language faculty, and that humans have a special faculty in the brain that assists in language learning.
- Argues that some linguistic things that children are able to learn are unmotivated by deductive reasoning or rationality.
- Analyzes how one would move the first occurrence of 'is' to the front of the sentence to produce ‘is this final paper the last thing that della has to do before break?’
- Explains that the same rule of moving the first occurrence of ‘is’ to the beginning of the sentence makes this declarative sentence a question as it did with the prior one.
- Analyzes how grammar is not determined by how likely it is for a sentence to be uttered.
- Analyzes how chomsky's sentence 'colorless green ideas sleep soundly' is a grammatical sentence.
- Analyzes how the example supports the theory of an overarching universal grammar, which explains why seemingly nonsensical sentences are still able to be structured.
- Explains that linguistic nativism has its critics. nelson goodman argues that the first human language is the series of sounds and gestures that young children use to try to communicate.
- Analyzes how goodman fails to notice that the sounds and gestures that young children use to try to communicate do not constitute ‘language’ as has been discussed up to this point.
- Explains that the evidence thus far seems to favorably decorate the theory of linguistic nativism. despite the limited linguistic data set, children under normal conditions are still able to know language competently and fluently.
1302 wordsRead More - Analysis of Persuasive Symbols in Ronald Reagan's The Space Shuttle "Challenger" Tragedy Addressanalytical essayFirst, a brief background in the three dimensions of language discussed throughout this paper. The functional, semantic, or thematic dimensions of language as previously mentioned are often used in parallel with each other. Due, to this fact it is important to be able to identify them as they take place and differentiate between these dimensions i...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that politicians often receive negative publicity at the hand of their own use of language. the paper aims not to be an all-inclusive guide for analyzing persuasive symbols.
- Explains that the three dimensions of language are often used in parallel with each other. the functional, semantic, and thematic dimensions of language aid the theme or tone for the persuasion.
- Analyzes how ronald reagan uses the three dimensions of language to set the tone for his speech and deliver it in a manner which makes it readily comprehensible.
- Analyzes president reagan's use of simple sentences to highlight cause and effect.
- Analyzes ronald reagan's use of semantics in his speech. he portrays the men and women aboard the challenger as pioneers to tie back to his previous message of unity.
1293 wordsRead More - Vocabulary in Language Learninganalytical essayAbout half a century ago, Sweet (1964) supported that the real intrinsic difficulty of learning a language lies in that of having to master its vocabulary. This claim was made at a time when vocabulary was notably neglected in language learning for a plethora of reasons. Decontextualised vocabulary instruction had been emphasised too much in the classroom during the years of the Grammar Translation Method, so there was a need for a shift of emphasis on the structural component of the language. This was also partially due to the specialisation in linguistic research on syntax and morphology, which fostered a climate in which vocabulary was thought to be less important (Carter, 1987). Thus, teachers tended to concentrate less on lexis for fear of students making mistakes in sentence construction, if a large amount of vocabulary was acquired before the basic grammar (Allen, 1983). Carter moves on to say that this neglect was in accordance with the “underlying perception that significant structural description and generalisation is possible within syntax, where relations are finite, but less likely in lexis, where relations are theoretically infinite” (1987:145). Furthermore, there may have been more practical reasons for this aversion to teaching vocabulary, since measurement of lexical knowledge can be difficult and only approximate, and vocabulary items do not lend themselves to clear-cut specifications in a syllabus, in terms of either their number, type, or range – unlike syntactic structures (ibid.).
In this essay, the author
- Explains sweet's claim that the real intrinsic difficulty of learning a language lies in having to master its vocabulary. this was partly due to the specialisation in linguistic research on syntax and morphology.
- Analyzes the present practice of teaching english, where teachers and learners realise and admit the value of vocabulary, since lack of the necessary words results in failure in communication.
- Explains that learners are exposed to vocabulary presented in the course book, including the written and spoken texts, the various activities, and the instructions for the activities. students are an inexhaustible source of new language.
- Argues that the course book plays a significant role in the provision of lexical input and its nature during an efl course.
- Explains that the dissertation consists of three parts, beginning with a theoretical review of the literature and defining the criteria to be included in the lexical evaluation of course books.
- Explains how the evaluative model is applied to the recently produced course book to be used with young students in the third grade of greek state primary schools.
- Concludes that the dissertation focuses on the implications of the study for classroom practice. chapter 6 suggests ways of supplementation and adaptation of "magic book" to better cater for the audience it addresses.
- Explains the linguistic and psychological/didactic criteria that are applicable to a range of contents and can be classified into two broad categories.
- Explains that the criterion of frequency has been extensively discussed in the literature and has received both support and criticism. frequency counts are made by taking samples of the sort of materials which the learners are likely to read or hear.
- Analyzes the advantages and weaknesses of michael west's gsl. it contains 2000 headwords and was developed in the 1940s, based on a five-million-word corpus.
1455 wordsRead More - Gender Differences and Memoryanalytical essayFurthermore this article expands upon this subcategory of memory by describing the two types of tasks involved with it: verbal-production ta...
In this essay, the author
- Argues that experience plays an immense role in presenting the desolation that age and education has on one's capacity to remember. psychologists agneta herlitz and jenny rehnman challenged this case by comparing two opposite variables.
- Explains that episodic memory is the remembrance of a phenomenal personal experience in terms of what, when, and where.
- Explains that the article expands upon this subcategory of memory by describing verbal-production tasks and visuospatial tasks.
- Explains that women are able to apply verbal and visuospatial tasks, while men are more inclined towards other males.
- Explains that culture, education, or public exposures can affect the memory of an individual. in bangladesh, men are better than women in verbal tasks.
- Explains that joan and john are in a romantic relationship, and have been in the relationship for long. they argue about the question herlitz and rehnman challenged: does one’s sex affect his or her ability to remember day to day events?
- Analyzes how john's memory of the route to their old favorite restaurant is a decent practical memory, but not an intimate memory.
- Analyzes how joan's proof validates why women have better memory. the argument states that joan and john are in a romantic relationship.
- Concludes that sex differences have a remarkable effect on memory. according to the article "sex differences in episodic memory", women have superior verbal-production tasks and visuospatial tasks.
958 wordsRead More - The Critical Importance of Retrieval For Learningargumentative essayAltogether this study has helped us learn more about the brain and memory. Learning is measured thorough when a student can reiterate the right answer to a question. In this study, students in one conditions learned forging language vocabulary words in standard example of recurrent study exam trials. In three other conditions, once a student had correctly formed the language item, it was constantly studied but dropped from further testing. Repeatedly tested but dropped from the further study or just dropped from both the study and also the test. The results reveal the critical part of retrieval practice in combining education and shows that even college students seem naive of the fact.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that researchers were studying human learning and memory by presenting people with information to be learned in a study period and testing them on the information that they were told to learn.
- Explains that the researchers came up with an idea of using foreign language in their study. the article started to talk about the dropout and standard learning conditions.
- Describes how the researches got college students to learn a list of foreign words that they have never seen before.
- Compares the learning curves of the four conditions, stating that the cumulative performance total was identical, but the number of trials in each test condition was different.
- Analyzes how this study has helped us learn more about the brain and memory. the results reveal the critical part of retrieval practice in combining education.
636 wordsRead More - What Came First Thought Or Lancomparative essayFirstly, a distinction has to be made between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. There are infinitely more thoughts in our mind than we can ever perceive. The German psychologist Fechner, who lived in the second half of the nineteenth century, compared the mind to an iceberg. This iceberg has only a fraction of all the information and thoughts stored in the mind above the water level, on the surface of consciousness, but by far the biggest part of it is hidden underwater, in the unconscious mind. Recent research has shown that only a very tiny proportion of our unconscious thinking is converted to conscious thinking. This conversion processes like the search engine in a computer: this 'search engine' unconsciously selects the thoughts we want to be available for our conscious mind. Then a small part of the thoughts from the unconscious component of the mind, the part that is aware of, and to a certain extent induces the person's choice of action, is consciously translated into language. This means that the meaning a person wishes to express provides the strategy for the proper word.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that in order to prove the statement "language came after thought", the words 'language' and "thought" must first be defined. thought is a system for formulating and communicating information, thoughts and feelings.
- Compares the mind to an iceberg, where only a tiny proportion of unconscious thinking is converted to conscious thinking.
- Compares the unconscious mind and the conscious mind. creativity and music compositions are found in the subconscious mind, whereas musicians think in harmony instead of melody. einstein wrote that language played no role in his mechanism of thought.
- Explains that language is a less sophisticated and flexible system than thought is. it provides usable concepts, but restricts us to traditional concepts.
- Explains that if language came before thought, then thinking would not be possible without the language-based concepts. language would have to be the basis of thinking and not just the means of communicating.
611 wordsRead More - The Importance Of The English Languageexplanatory essayLanguage is the expression of human personality in words, whether spoken or written. It serves as the universal medium for conveying the common facts and feelings of everyday life. A language can be defined as the normal, natural and enduring method of expressing the human mind. It can be thought of generally and particularly, as speech or writing used by some individual in a known situation or context. To familiarize student and research scholar with the nature of language in general and with the phonological, grammatical, dictional and literary aspects of the English language are heterogeneous in nature. The English Language has been enriched with words acquired from various languages along with its own words. The world’s greatest languages
In this essay, the author
- Explains that language is the universal medium for conveying common facts and feelings of everyday life. the world's greatest languages like greek, latin, french, scandinavian, italian, and germanic have contributed immensely to the growth of the english language.
- Describes the main woody stem of a tree, the major part of an artery, nerve or other structure from which smaller branches arise.
- Describes a large box with hinged lid for storing or transporting clothes and other articles.
- Defines pain as a strongly unpleasant bodily sensation caused by illness or injury.
- Explains how to postpone (v) arrange for (something) to take place at a time later than that first scheduled.
- Explains that the vowel sound clash is avoided while we use ‘aren’t’. it is for our tongue convenience.
- Defines animal as a mammal as opposed to bird, reptile fish, or sect.
- Explains that the school begins at 9.50 a.m. and starts on working before 10
- Describes the commencements of the ceremony and the prayer in the school.
- Describes the advantages and disadvantages of being of considerable size, power, or extent, infml.
- Explains that the thieves are at large, as a whole, and society, in large measure (or part) to great extent.
- Explains that a taxi is an automobile licensed to transport passengers in return for payment of the fare.
- Explains that a restaurant is where people pay to sit and eat meals that are cooked and served on the premises.
- Explains carbon copy is an indication that a duplicate has been or should be sent to another person.
- Defines dinner as the main meal of the day, taken either around midday or in the evening.
- Explains the scottish & n. english meal consisting of the specified food with chips; a fish supper.
- Explains that the president elect is elected to a position but not yet in office.
- Explains that a belief or attitude widely held among the general public is intended for or shifted to the taste or means of the public.
- Describes the types of freight transported by truck, train, or ship.
- Explains finale / finally(adv) is the last part of a piece of music; an entertainment, or public event.
- Describes the definition of a fence, and explains that it is composed of posts connected by wire, wood, etc.
- Explains that intelligent is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
- Explains that inflammable is formed using the latin prefix in- which has the meaning ‘into’.
- Explains the term adv. before the present, back, in the opposite direction from the one that one is facing or traveling backwards.
- Describes the definitions of bachelors and spinsters.
- Explains how to come into being, start speaking, have a first element, set to work on, and begin to engage in an occupation.
- Describes the terms garden, field, and field.
1819 wordsRead More - The Benefits Of Verbal Mnemonicsexplanatory essayIn a study done by Behr (2012) the students first were introduced to the techniques then their recall of vocabulary was tested. Firstly, the students were given three initial tests containing 15 new English words each, in sum the number of words was a total of 45, while the second and third sets tested the reminiscent technique and loci method, respectively. After attending three weeks of experiment there was a final test on all the 45 new words at once, to test the possible encodement to long-term
In this essay, the author
- Explains that mnemonic devices offer an opportunity to the language learners, teachers, and researchers to explore the advantages of raising the learners' awareness about how they currently learn vocabulary and other options open to them.
- Describes verbal mnemonics as a method of learning/teaching vocabulary that deals with longer stretches of language in the form of one sentence or more.
- Explains how grouping/semantic organization helps to better remember foreign words, such as butter, cat, elephant, yogurt, dog, sofa, milk, chair and carpet.
- Explains that organizing words on the basis of their semantic usage is vital to learning a language.
- Explains storytelling/narrative chain, which refers to the oral representation of stories where the learners are supposed to make a story about the words.
- Explains that a play consists of responses for pure pleasure, and preschool plays are more fun and effective methodology along with other activities and lesson plans.
- Explains that linguistics mnemonics falls into two sub-categories: peg-type method and key word method.
- Compares the impact of teaching through memory strategies in experimental and control groups in india. the experimental group outperformed both in short- and long-term scores.
- Explains that behr (2012) investigated the effect of mnemonic techniques in efficient recalling of new english vocabulary. participants were taught the reminiscent technique and the loci method.
- Explains that mnemonic techniques are a guide for retrieving words. in behr's study, students were introduced to the techniques and their recall of vocabulary was tested.
- Explains that the reminiscent technique and loci method helped to attain a stronger encodement to long-term memory. the students' own technique came out as the winner.
1035 wordsRead More