Lexical networks as neural networks
Abstract
This paper investigates the internal organization of the set of lexical ítems in the mind for concepts are nodes that hold specific semantic relationships. It underscores the importance of adopting a formal model and proposes the smallworld networks methodology, which has proved to be very useful in the study of several domains such as neural connections. Four lexical relationships are focused on throughout the paper –synonymy, polysemy, hyperonymy and hyponymy–, and they are analyzed by means of linguistc tests performed by students that have Spanish as L1 and English as L2. It is concluded that mental organization of L1 lexicon accomodates to small-world networks, but L2 one does not. This suggests that the mental organization of lexicon follows different models of neural connexion in an acquired tongue and in a learned one.Downloads
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