Session 6 The Mental Lexicon

 Word association (WA) tests  Comparing the L1 and L2 mental lexicons  Pedagogic implications 1

Word association and the mental lexicon

Cognitive processes -- how words and meanings are organized mentally (unobservable) ◄

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► Language associative behavior (observable) 2

Word Association Test

Prompt Word Associative word Relationship

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Word associations (English)

Prompt Word Associative word Relationship

green water open hill butterfly truth powerful blanket inclination hockey 4

green water open inclination hockey

Word Associations

Grass (collocation) Red (co-ordination) Color (super-ordination) Drink (collocation) Melon (compound noun) Clear (collocation) Close (antonym) Door (collocation) Information (sound – stress pattern) Intonation Jockey (sound - rhyme)

How words are stored in the mental lexicon

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L1 / L2 equivalence

(cognates in related languages e.g. cream in English and crème in French)

Orthographically

(words that have similar spelling)

Phonologically

(rhyme, alliteration, stress pattern, etc.)

Semantically

red) (synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms e.g. color -

Collocationally

(e.g. make – a wish, catch – a bus)

Morphologically

(e.g. defensive-offensive; television telescope)

Encyclopedic associations

experience of the real world) (based on our knowledge / 6

Meanings of words

 Meanings of words are often understood in relation to other words (like a web)  e.g. you understand the meaning of ‘cold’ through your understanding of ‘hot’  e.g. you understand the meaning of ‘roses’ through your understanding of ‘garden’, ‘flowers’ or ‘lilies’ 7

Word Associations and Language Proficiency

 How words are organised / stored in the brain is an indicator of language proficiency level  Or how “native-like” you are 8

Paradigmatic associations

 Always belong to the same word class  Substitutable in syntactic strings  More semantics-oriented (synonyms, antonyms, superordinates, or hyponyms)  E.g. I want to get a doggie for my daughter.

pet Terrier cat wombat

Syntagmatic associations

 Usually belong to a different word class, but sometimes can belong to the same word class  Collocate well with prompt words in a grammatical string  More grammar-oriented (in a grammatical string)  E.g. Dogs bark.

 E.g. Walk the dog.

 E.g. Dog collar

Phonological associations / Clangs

 E.g. dog - fog  E.g. hockey - hockey 9

L1 mental lexicon

 Phonological Syntagmatic Paradigmatic ( developmental process) ( younger children older children )  Commonness / Homogeneity lexicons (native speakers tend to give the same word associates – more in the their mental stable / consistent associations)  e.g.

blanket:

bed, warm, sheet, electric, cover, warmth, wool, soft, bath, snow 10

Mean proportion of NNS and NS response types for WA (Wolter, 2001)

30 20 10 0 60 50 40 Para Syntag Phono No response NNS NS

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L2 mental lexicon similar to L1 mental lexicon

Earlier studies found NS had more paradigmatic associations than NNS. But later studies (e.g. Zareva, 2007) found the same shift in L2 learners, as they get more proficient in the language, and as they grow older Phonological Syntagmatic Paradigmatic 12

Looking at your word associates

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What kinds of associations do you have most (phonological, syntagmatic, paradigmatic) in your WA tests?

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Pedagogical Implications

Developmental/ cognitive aspect:

 Younger learners tend to favor syntagmatic associations: dog-bark  Older learners tend to favor/ are capable of handling paradigmatic associations / semantically-related groups e.g. synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms: dog-cat or dog-pet 14

Superordinates and Hyponyms

Lion ???

Tiger Horse ???

Sports ???

???

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Superordinates and Hyponyms

Living room Bedroom Fridge Flat Kitchen Utensils Bathroom Saucepan Frying pan

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Word retention

 teach 8-12 vocabulary items in a 60-minute lesson (Gairns & Redman, 1986)  The chances of learning and retaining a word from one exposure is only 5-14% (Nagy, 1997)  5 – 16 times for a word to be learned (Zahar, Cobb & Spada, 2001)  An important role for recycling (revisiting) of the vocabulary learnt

Importance of Revision

Spaced / Distributed Repetition

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Recycling of vocabulary

Horst & Meara (1999) – far more vocab is learnt if the same text is read several times (the first reading focuses on understanding meaning, while the later readings focus on the forms) Following a piece of news for several days (word repetitions and synonyms); encountering the same words in different contexts Vocabulary quizzes Different parts of speech (e.g. “shoulder” as a noun, and as a verb) Other meanings (polysemy) of a word (e.g. “head as a body part, the school head, the department head, head of a queue) Replacing general words by specific words (e.g. nice – attractive, elegant, terrific)

Assignment

      Deadline:

postponed to November 10

Hard copy to Cecilia; Soft copy via www.turnitin.com

(instructions from Cecilia by email) All students have been given the cover sheet Assignments must be within the Handbook.

word limit: 2500 words excluding the reference list (+/-10% of the prescribed length). Assignments that are too long or too short should not be read and should be assigned a Fail grade. See page 7 of the Student Assessment criteria on Course Website Assignments that plagiarize are assigned a Fail grade. Please paraphrase cited information in your own words and acknowledge the sources using the APA style .

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