Lexical Competence

What does our ability to use words--that is, our lexical competence--consist of? What
is the difference between a system that can be said to understand language and one that cannot? Most
approaches to word meaning fail to account for an essential aspect of our linguistic competence,
namely, our ability to apply words to the world. This monograph proposes a dual picture of human
lexical competence in which inferential and referential abilities are separate--a proposal confirmed
by neuropsychological research on brain- damaged persons. According to the author, artificial
systems for natural-language understanding could come much closer to achieving their goal if they
conformed to this dual picture of competence. Topics discussed include classical issues in the
philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind such as the analytic/synthetic dichotomy, semantic
holism, causal theories of reference, dual-factor theories, publicness, verificationism, and
Searle's Chinese room.Language, Speech, Communication series