Words in the Mind
Section outline
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The mental lexicon (or mental dictionary) is a language user’s cognitive storage of internalized knowledge of the properties of words. Lexical access refers to the retrieval of words from the mental lexicon, and this includes both word recognition as well as production processes. This course provides an introduction to how lexical memory works, how words are organized and how their semantic and formal knowledge is represented. The main focus will be on orthographic, phonological, and semantic aspects of words. In addition, we will discuss challenges posed by multiple languages memorized by a language user (the “bilingual/ multilingual mental lexicon”). Students will learn about various empirical techniques, which are used to investigate the organizational structure of the mental lexicon, ranging from experimental psychology to computer modeling. The aim of this course is to familiarize students with current issues and experimental approaches to the organization and function of the mental lexicon in first and second/foreign language users.
In the summer semester of 2025, this course will be offered as a project-based course. This means that it will be a mix of regular classes, online classes, and empirical projects conducted by the participants.Class Meetings
Tuesday, 09:10-10:50, P111.
Online classes will take place on Teams.
Link to Teams channel "Words in the Mind, Luef"
elearning - ÚAJD | Words in the mind, Luef | Microsoft Teams
If you are having trouble accessing the Teams channel (e.g., if you are an exchange student), please send me an email before class, so I can forward an invitation to you.
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Lesson
Date
Note
Topic
1
18.2.
Class is cancelled
2
25.2.
In class
What’s a word? Cognitive representations of words
3
4.3.
Online
Speech recognition and production
4
11.3.
Online
The bilingual mental lexicon
5
18.3.
In class
Experimental approaches to the lexicon
6
25.3.
In class
Design your own experiment with PsychoPy
7
1.4.
Online
Find stimuli and primes, control for variables
8
8.4.
Project work
- Conceptualize psycholinguistic/ lexical project
- Formulate hypothesis
- Gather data (corpus, record yourself)
- Analyze data
- write up project report
9
15.4.
Project work
10
22.4.
Project work
11
29.4.
In class
Project presentations
12
6.5.
In class
Project presentations
13
13.5.
Deans' Day
Selected literature
Aitchison, J. (2012). Words in the mind: An introduction to the mental lexicon. London: John Wiley & Sons.
Bybee, J. (2000). The phonology of the lexicon: Evidence from lexical diffusion. In S. Kemmer & M. Barlow (Eds.), Usage-based models of language (pp. 65-86). California: CSLI Publications.
Charles-Luce, J., & Luce, P. A. (1990). Similarity neighbourhoods of words in young children’s lexicon. Journal of Child Language, 17(1), 205-215.
Dell, G. S. (1986). A spreading-activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychologial Review, 93(3), 283-321.
Dóczi, B. (2020). An overview of conceptual models and theories of lexical representation in the mental lexicon. In S. Webb (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of vocabulary studies (pp. 46-65). London, New York: Routledge.
Fay, D., & Cutler, A. (1977). Malapropisms and the structure of the mental lexicon. Linguistic Inquiry, 8(3), 505-520.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1999). Models of word production. Trends in Cognitive Science, 3(6), 223-232.
Luce, P. A., & Pisoni, D. B. (1998). Recognizing spoken words: The neighborhood activation model. Ear and Hearing, 19, 1-36.
Luef, E. M. (2022). Growth algorithms in the phonological networks of second language learners. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(12), e26-44. doi:10.1037/xge0001248
Marslen-Wilson, W. D., & Zwitserlood, P. (1989). Accessing spoken words: The importance of word onsets. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human perception and performance, 15, 576.
McClelland, J. L., & Elman, J. L. (1986). The TRACE model of speech perception. Cognitive Psychology, 18, 1-86.
Turnbull, R., & Peperkamp, S. (2017). What governs a language’s lexicon? Determining the organizing principles of phonological neighbourhood networks. In H. Cherifi, S. Gaito, W. Quattrociocchi, & A. Sala (Eds.), Complex networks and their applications V (pp. 83-94). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Ullman, M. T. (2007). The biocognition of the mental lexicon. In M. G. Gaskell, G. T. M. Altmann, P. Bloom, A. Caramazza, & P. Levelt (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 267-288). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Vitevitch, M. S. (2012). What do foreign neighbors say about the mental lexicon? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(1), 167-172.
Weber, A., & Scharenborg, O. (2012). Models of spoken-word recognition. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 3, 387-401.
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- Attendance and participation: The success of this course relies on your participation. Whether you are working in group activities, individual workshops, or class discussions (on- and offline), you must be present and active.
- Small groups will conduct psycholinguistic projects and present them at the end of the semester.
GRADING
Attendance, active participation, assignments = 30%
Project work = 30%
Project presentation = 40%
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Each student conceptualizes a psycholinguistic project, develops a hypothesis, gathers appropriate data, analyzes the data, and writes up their methods and findings in a project report. Projects will be presented at the end of the semester.
If you are having difficulties coming up with a topic, or if you would like to discuss your ideas with me, send me an email and we will arrange a meeting.
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