Abstract
As any lexicographer knows, the meanings of words are not immediately open to introspection. Their covert nature underlies at least one current controversy: some theorists propose that meanings are composed of semantic primitives1, whereas others deny the existence of such entities2,3. We have investigated the matter in an evaluation of the responses of naive speakers as a source of lexicographical information.
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References
Schank, R., Cog. Psychol., (1972).
Winograd, T., Understanding Natural Language (Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, 1972).
Kintsch, W., The Representation of Meaning in Memory (Erlbaum, New Jersey, 1974).
Miller, G. A., and Johnson-Laird, P. N., Language and Perception (Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge University, London, 1976).
Morris, W. (ed.), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1969).
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JOHNSON-LAIRD, P., QUINN, J. To define true meaning. Nature 264, 635–636 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/264635b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/264635b0
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