THE ROLE OF PRIMING IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF A POLYSEMOUS WORD MEANING

THE ROLE OF PRIMING IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF A POLYSEMOUS WORD MEANING

Author:  V.I. Zabotkina, E.L. Boyarskaya

Affiliation:  Russian State University for the Humanities

Abstract: 
The article adopts a novel approach to the resolution of polysemy and puts it to an empirical test. The authors postulate that priming plays a key role in the activation of an adequate meaning of a polysemous word. Mental structures, represented by a lexical unit, contain relevant conceptual information about the target word. These mental structures may act as a prime – а certain stimulus which facilitates an adequate identification of the target word meaning.

Keywords:  polysemy, meaning, resolution of polysemy, priming, conceptual context, mental representations, prime, target word