Psycholinguistics is about how language works in the brain. A specific question that one might ask on this topic is, "How are the words we use connected to the thoughts they serve to express?" The answer to such a seemingly simple question is actually quite complicated and far from conclusive. In order for one to transform his or her abstract thoughts into physical words (spoken, written, or signed), these words must first be mentally represented and organized in a systematic, easily accessible way.
Why is necessary this systematic organization of the words?
The mental lexicon is necessary because without it, linguistic production would be long, laborious and would not accurately represent one's thoughts. An analogy that is often used to illustrate the concept of the mental lexicon is that of a printed dictionary, which is similar to a lexicon. This analogy breaks down very quickly, however, in that the use of language in humans is very multi-faceted and does not occur in a robotic, dictionary-like fashion. Dictionaries only allow one to access words by their alphabetically ordered spelling, which is often accidental in a language and does not allow for them to be accessed by any of their other properties (e.g., their meaning) (Fellbaum, 1998). What the more flexible models of the mental lexicon try to do is explain the patterns and regularities that underlie people's knowledge and (sometimes irregular) use of words.
Why is necessary this systematic organization of the words?
The mental lexicon is necessary because without it, linguistic production would be long, laborious and would not accurately represent one's thoughts. An analogy that is often used to illustrate the concept of the mental lexicon is that of a printed dictionary, which is similar to a lexicon. This analogy breaks down very quickly, however, in that the use of language in humans is very multi-faceted and does not occur in a robotic, dictionary-like fashion. Dictionaries only allow one to access words by their alphabetically ordered spelling, which is often accidental in a language and does not allow for them to be accessed by any of their other properties (e.g., their meaning) (Fellbaum, 1998). What the more flexible models of the mental lexicon try to do is explain the patterns and regularities that underlie people's knowledge and (sometimes irregular) use of words.
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