The Activation of the Correct Meaning: An Experimental Study on Ambiguous Words in Context

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20420/Phil.Can.2023.596

Keywords:

lexical ambiguity, homonymy, polysemy, eye-tracker, context

Abstract

The aim of this article is to offer a revision of the processing of the synchronic polysemous and homonymous words within a context. According to Swinney’s results (1979), when an ambiguous word is processed all its meanings are always activated. Nonetheless, the difference between types of ambiguity was not considered. The experiment here presented consisted of a reading task with priming. It was carried out by 24 participants and measured using an eye-tracker device. The current results indicate that there is a differential behaviour depending on the type of ambiguity and that Swinney’s proposal is consistent with polysemous words but not with homonymous units.

Supporting Agencies

This article is part of a research project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain [Project code: PID2019-111198GB-I00].

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Author Biographies

Natalia López-Cortés, Universidad de Zaragoza

Natalia López-Cortés holds a degree in Hispanic Philology and a PhD in Hispanic Linguistics from Universidad de Zaragoza. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the same university. Since 2016 she has belonged to the reference research group Psylex. Her research is framed in the field of Psycholinguistics and she has experience with different experimental methodologies, such as lexical decision tasks, questionnaire administration and electrophysiological data collection (eye-tracking, evoked potentials). Her main areas of interest are the investigation of language processing, the structure of the mental lexicon and the subjective interpretation of lexical units.

María del Carmen Horno-Chéliz, Universidad de Zaragoza

María del Carmen Horno-Chéliz is a Professor of General Linguistics at Universidad de Zaragoza since 1998, tenured since 2003. She holds a degree in Hispanic Philology from the University of Zaragoza in 1996, a PhD from the same university in 2001 and a degree in Psychology (clinical itinerary) from Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). She belongs to the reference research group Psylex and to Instituto de Patrimonio y Humanidades (Institute of Heritage and Humanities) of Universidad de Zaragoza. Her research is very focused on Psycholinguistics, specifically in the areas of processing, storage and acquisition, as well as in the area of clinical linguistics.

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Published

2023-05-31

How to Cite

López-Cortés, N., & Horno-Chéliz, M. del C. (2023). The Activation of the Correct Meaning: An Experimental Study on Ambiguous Words in Context. Philologica Canariensia, 29, 193–212. https://doi.org/10.20420/Phil.Can.2023.596

Issue

Vol. 29 (2023)

Section

Miscellany

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Copyright (c) 2022 Natalia López-Cortés, María del Carmen Horno-Chéliz

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