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Language and Cognition Seminar - Dr Jenni Rodd

10 October 2019, 4:00 pm–5:00 pm

Language and Cogniiton Seminar series logo

Chandler House 118 "Settling into Semantic Space: An Ambiguity-Focused Account of Word-Meaning Access"

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

Gwen Brekelmans – Language and Cognition

Location

Room 118
Chandler House
2 Wakefield Street
London
WC1N 1PF

Settling into Semantic Space: An Ambiguity-Focused Account of Word-Meaning Access

Most words are ambiguous: individual wordforms (e.g., “run”) can map onto multiple different interpretations depending on their sentence context (e.g., “the athlete/politician/river runs”). Models of word-meaning access must therefore explain how listeners and readers are able to rapidly settle on a single, contextually appropriate meaning for each word that they encounter. I will present a new account of word meaning that places semantic disambiguation at its core, and integrates evidence from a wide variety of experimental approaches to explain this key aspect of language comprehension. The model has three key characteristics. (i) Lexical-semantic knowledge is viewed as a high-dimensional space; familiar word meanings correspond to stable states within this lexical-semantic space. (ii) Multiple linguistic and paralinguistic cues can influence the settling process by which the system resolves on one of these familiar meanings. (iii) Learning mechanisms play a vital role in facilitating rapid word-meaning access by shaping and maintaining high quality lexical-semantic knowledge.

About the Speaker

Jenni Rodd

at Department of Experimental Psychology UCL

More about Jenni Rodd