The Mental Lexicon

Once we learn both the sounds and their related meaning, we know the word. It
becomes an entry in our mental lexicon.

Definition:

The mental lexicon is defined as a mental dictionary that contains information

regarding a word's meaning, pronunciation, syntactic characteristics, and so on.
 The Mental Lexicon’s Size
There’s no limited size of the mental lexicon.

Do we store every single word or just lemmas?

(i.e. drink only, or drink, drinking, drunk, drank, etc...)?

 The Mental Lexicon’s Organization
The mental lexicon differs from the lexicon in that it is not just a general collection of
words.

It deals with how those words are activated, stored, processed, and retrieved by each
speaker.

An individual’s mental lexicon changes and grows as new words are learned and is always
developing.
 How words are stored in the mental
lexicon?
The mental lexicon is not organized alphabetically like a dictionary.

It seems to be organized in a more complex manner, with links between phonologically

and semantically related lexical items.

Entries in the mental lexicon are seen as interconnected with each other in various
ways, on the basis of both meaning and form (Levelt 1989).
Thus, it is organized:

1. Orthographically
2. Phonologically (rhyme, alliteration, stress pattern, etc.)
3. Semantically (synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms e.g. color - red)
4. Collocationally (e.g. make – a wish, catch – a bus)
5. Morphologically (e.g. defensive-offensive; television- telescope)
6. Encyclopedic associations (based on our knowledge / experience of the real world)