Abstract
This chapter describes how speakers access words from the mental lexicon. Lexical access is a crucialtextlessbrtextgreatercomponent in the process of transforming thoughts into speech. Some theories consider lexical access to betextlessbrtextgreaterstrictly serial and discrete, while others view this process as being cascading or even interactive, i.e. the differenttextlessbrtextgreatersub-levels influence each other. We discuss some of the evidence in favour and against these viewpoints, andtextlessbrtextgreateralso present arguments regarding the ongoing debate on how words are selected for production. Another importanttextlessbrtextgreaterissue concerns the access to morphologically complex words such as derived and inflected words, as well astextlessbrtextgreatercompounds. Are these accessed as whole entities from the mental lexicon or are the parts assembled online? Thistextlessbrtextgreaterchapter tries to provide an answer to that question as well.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Oxford handbook of the word |
| Editors | J. Taylor |
| Place of Publication | Oxford |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Pages | 481-492 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |