Words in the brain: the mental lexicon

Authors

  • Lucilene Bender de Sousa PUCRS
  • Rosângela Gabriel UNISC

Keywords:

Mental lexicon, Brain, Extension, Organization

Abstract

How does our brain represent and organize words? Researchers believe in the existence of something like a word inventory in the brain, which they call mental lexicon. This structure is the center of most cognitive models of speech, listening, writing and reading, through which one can have access to word forms and meanings. This paper aims to provide a general view of what the mental lexicon is. Primarily, the concept of lexicon and how this denomination was born are presented. Similarities and differences between a conventional dictionary and the mental lexicon are discussed. Questions such as how many words people know and how research evaluates this number are addressed. Then, different models on lexical organization are presented, approaching the connectivity relations between lexical items.

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Author Biographies

Lucilene Bender de Sousa, PUCRS

Doutoranda em Linguística na Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, com bolsa parcial CAPES. Mestre em Letras pela Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul.

Rosângela Gabriel, UNISC

Doutora em Letras e docente pesquisadora do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, área de concentração Leitura e Cognição, da Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul, RS.

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Published

2013-03-30

How to Cite

Bender de Sousa, L., & Gabriel, R. (2013). Words in the brain: the mental lexicon. Letrônica, 5(3), 3–20. Retrieved from https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/letronica/article/view/12244

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 3 (2012): Linguagem e Cognição & A Criação Literária em Processo

Section

Linguistics

License

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