A Cognitive Sketch of the Lexical Item Phobia

Abstract

This study is about the mode of representing lexical information in the mental lexicon. Itcarries out the investigation within the framework of Cognitive Lexical Semantics, asubfield of semantics which deals with the cognitive aspects of lexical meanings: whatlexical items mean and how they are stored in the speaker's mind. It tries to substantiatetwo of its assumptions. One is that lexical items are polysemous by nature, i.e. havingmultiple senses. The other is that lexical items form categories of interrelated senses.Applying these tenets to the linguistic expression -phobia, I make two arguments. One isthat it exhibits polysemy, having numerous senses. The other is that it forms a category,a network of interrelated senses. The central sense is called the prototype. The othersenses which extend from the prototype are called the periphery. The theoretical aim isto show that the multiple senses of a lexical item are stored in the mind as a network.The descriptive aim is to portray the full semantic range of the lexical item phobia inEnglish.