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106THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MENTAL LEXICON Yuldasheva M.B.
Yuldasheva Ma 'mura Bahtiyarovna - Teacher, DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES, TASHKENT INSTITUTE OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT ENGINEERS, TASHKENT, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: vocabulary is a vital part of language teaching. New words have to be introduced in such a way as to capture the students' attention and place the words in their memories. Students need to be aware of techniques for memorizing large amounts of new vocabulary in order to progress in their language learning. Vocabulary learning can often be seen as a laborious process of memorizing lists of unrelated terms. Keywords: vocabulary, mental lexicon, slip, indirect teaching, L1 and L2.
The numbers of words known by an educated adult native speaker is "unlikely to be less than 50,000, and may be as high as 250,000 ... Also remarkable is the speed at which the mental lexicon works: native speakers can recognize a word of their language (e.g., access its meaning) in 200ms (one fifth of a second) from its beginning. In many cases this is well before all the word has even been heard" [1, p. 7].
These impressive facts suggest that the mental lexicon is arranged systematically. Nation [1] sets out to form an overall picture of the mental lexicon: "How do humans manage to store so many words, and how do they find the ones they want?" Several bodies of research on different aspects of the mental lexicon are examined in order to gain a better understanding of the nature of the "human word-store". Some of the conclusions reached are summarized below.
Words, according to Nation, are "like coins, with meaning and word class on the one side and sounds on the other ... This link is easily broken, as shown by the common experience of knowing that a word exists, and being quite sure of its meaning, but being unable to "clothe it in sounds" [1, p. 29]. The fact that the sounds of words seem to be easily detached from meaning and word class is interpreted as an indication that the mental lexicon might be arranged in two different ways: one component dealing with the semantics and word class and another phonologically organized. The semantic and word class arrangement is intended to facilitate production, whereas the phonological arrangement is suitable for "speedy recognition".
Humans link words together in their minds. Words seem to be organized in semantic fields. This organization aids production in that a speaker can "pick easily from a particular topic area, comparing several possible words which are linked closely together". From the perspective of word recognition, however, a more convenient arrangement would be "to have all instances of the same sound sequence closely bound as in a printed dictionary. This would enable a hearer to compare them fast" [1, p. 34].
Words that have similar sounds at their beginnings and ends are those which are most closely linked. This arrangement makes it possible for listeners to "examine several of them together, and find the best fit for what they have heard". The mental lexicon organization then takes into consideration the needs of production and recognition, since "production begins with the semantics and syntax", whereas recognition "begins with phonology". The needs of memory seem also to be taken into account in the lexicon organization: "Within each component, the set-up may have been modified not only to aid speedy retrieval but also to make words easier to remember. For example, the arrangement of words into word classes, and into clumps of coordinates, possibly occurs at least partly because the memory needs a more structured system to cope with the tens of thousands of words involved". The considerations about the mental lexicon organization presented above were drawn from research using data provided by native speakers (e.g., "slips of the tongue" and word searches),
particularly those speakers of British and American English. The extent to which those conclusions are representative of other languages is yet not known. "The fact that different languages may require different organizations of the mental lexicon leads to a number of questions for the future", says Nation [1, p. 134] in the concluding chapter of book.
Regarding the mental lexicon of second language speakers, many questions are still unanswered. Much of the research done has been on neurological and psychological aspects of bilingualism, "much of which still remains equivocal on the issue of lexical organization" [2, p. 86]. Some studies seem to point to separate listings for the two languages, while others argue that there is a single lexical store. Most studies seem to show that there is interaction between the lexicons of the two languages in one user [3]. Does the second language learners' lexicon of a language resemble that of monolingual native speakers of that language? There is some evidence from word association tasks that they are different [2]. Yet in the absence of definite research evidence either way, argues Scrivener, "it makes sense for L2 theorists to draw on L1 models, and hence to test their validity for L2 theory, until there is definite evidence that they should not do so" [3, p. 86]. The lexicon of the low-proficiency second language learner has been described as loosely organized, with connections made on the basis of phonological features. "It has also been suggested that vocabulary organization would not be fixed at any stage of development, but the connections the language user makes between words would depend on contextual factors prompting those connections" [2, p. 166].
References
1. Nation I.S., 2001. Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2. O'Malley J.M. & ChaumontA, 1990. Learning strategies in second language.
3. Scrivener J., 1994. Learning teaching: A guidebook for English language teachers.
Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann.
