{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]],"date-time":"2025-10-29T03:54:23Z","timestamp":1761710063181,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,19]],"date-time":"2023-06-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1687132800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100005326","name":"Yale University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100005326","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Artif. Intell."],"abstract":"<jats:p>I explore the hypothesis that the experience of meaning discreteness when we think about the \u201cmeaning\u201d of a word is a \u201ccommunicative\u201d illusion. The illusion is created by processing-contextual constraints that impose disambiguation on the semantic input making salient a specific interpretation within a conceptual space that is otherwise continuous. It is this salience that we experience as discreteness. The understanding of word meaning as non-discrete raises the question of what is context; what are the mechanisms of constraint that it imposes and what is the nature of the conceptual space with which pronunciations (i.e., visual\/oral signs) associate themselves. I address these questions by leveraging an algebraic continuous system for word meaning that is itself constrained by two fundamental parameters: control-asymmetry and connectedness. I evaluate this model by meeting two challenges to word meaning discreteness (1) cases where the same pronunciation is associated with multiple senses that are nonetheless interdependent, e.g., English \u201csmoke,\u201d and (2) cases where the same pronunciation is associated with a family of meanings, minimally distinct from each other organized as a \u201ccline,\u201d e.g., English \u201chave.\u201d These cases are not marginal\u2013they are ubiquitous in languages across the world. Any model that captures them is accounting for the meaning system for language. At the heart of the argumentation is the demonstration of how the parameterized space naturally organizes these kinds of cases without appeal for further categorization or segmentation of any kind. From this, I conclude that discreteness in word meaning is epiphenomenal: it is the experience of salience produced by contextual constraints. And that this is possible because, by and large, every time that we become consciously aware of the conceptual structure associated with a pronunciation, i.e., its meaning, we do so under real-time processing conditions which are biased toward producing a specific interpretation in reference to a specific situation in the world. Supporting it is a parameterized space that gives rise to lexico-conceptual representations: generalized algebraic structures necessary for the identification, processing, and encoding of an individual's understanding of the world.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frai.2023.1025293","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,19]],"date-time":"2023-06-19T08:02:50Z","timestamp":1687161770000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Solving the elusiveness of word meanings: two arguments for a continuous meaning space for language"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Maria M.","family":"Pi\u00f1ango","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,19]]},"reference":[{"volume-title":"Memory, 2nd Edn","year":"2014","author":"Baddeley","key":"B1"},{"key":"B2","first-page":"655","article-title":"\u201cThe processing consequences of compositionality,\u201d","volume-title":"The Oxford Handbook of Compositionality","author":"Baggio","year":"2012"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1016\/0010-0277(92)90039-K","article-title":"From concepts to lexical items","volume":"42","author":"Bierwisch","year":"1992","journal-title":"Cognition."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"527","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2011.10.001","article-title":"The neurobiology of semantic memory","volume":"15","author":"Binder","year":"2011","journal-title":"Trend. Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780195367638.001.0001","volume-title":"The Origin of Concepts","author":"Carey","year":"2009"},{"key":"B6","article-title":"\u201cFrom gesture to word: On the natural history of deixis in language acquisition,\u201d","volume-title":"Human Growth and Development: Wolfson College Lectures 1976","author":"Clark","year":"1978"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1075\/tsl.27.06cro","article-title":"\u201cVoice: beyond control and affectedness,\u201d","volume-title":"Voice: Form and Function","author":"Croft","year":"1994"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199248582.001.0001","volume-title":"Verbs: Aspect and Causal Structure","author":"Croft","year":"2012"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"295","DOI":"10.3765\/salt.v21i0.2614","article-title":"\u201cQuantification and context in measure adverbs,\u201d","author":"Deo","year":"2011","journal-title":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1177\/0963721418794491","article-title":"Integration and prediction in language processing: a synthesis of old and new","volume":"27","author":"Ferreira","year":"2019","journal-title":"Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"B11","first-page":"22","article-title":"\u201cIdioms within a transformational grammar,\u201d","author":"Fraser","year":"1970","journal-title":"Foundations of Language"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1016\/0749-596X(90)90071-7","article-title":"Taking on semantic commitments: processing multiple meanings vs. multiple senses","volume":"29","author":"Frazier","year":"1990","journal-title":"J. Mem. Lang."},{"volume-title":"Semantics and Cognition","year":"1983","author":"Jackendoff","key":"B13"},{"volume-title":"The Architecture of the Language Faculty","year":"1997","author":"Jackendoff","key":"B14"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780198270126.001.0001","volume-title":"Foundations of Language","author":"Jackendoff","year":"2002"},{"volume-title":"A User's Guide to Thought and Meaning","year":"2012","author":"Jackendoff","key":"B16"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"86","DOI":"10.1515\/9783110589245-004","article-title":"\u201cConceptual semantics,\u201d","volume-title":"Semantics - Theories","author":"Jackendoff","year":"2019"},{"journal-title":"Semantic structures","year":"1990","author":"Jackendoff","key":"B18"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.1075\/ml.7.1.03kat","article-title":"Complement coercion: Distinguishing between type-shifting and pragmatic inferencing","volume":"7","author":"Katsika","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ment. Lexicon."},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1075\/sibil.5","author":"Klein","year":"1992","journal-title":"Utterance Structure: Developing Grammars Again"},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"533","DOI":"10.1515\/ling-2012-0018","article-title":"Location, existence, and possession: a constructional-typological exploration","volume":"50","author":"Koch","year":"2012","journal-title":"Linguistics"},{"key":"B22","first-page":"7","article-title":"\u201cContext and semantic composition of multiple dimension representations in real-time,\u201d","volume-title":"Language and Thought, IEICE Technical Report 117(149)","author":"Lai","year":""},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1075\/ml.20025.lai","article-title":"The time-course of contextual modulation for underspecified meaning: an eye-movement study","author":"Lai","year":"2023","journal-title":"Mental Lexicon"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-45977-6_8","article-title":"\u201cComplement coercion as the processing of aspectual verbs: evidence from self-paced reading and fMRI,\u201d","volume-title":"Compositionality and Concepts in Linguistics and Psychology (Language, Cognition, and Mind, 3)","author":"Lai","year":""},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"582","DOI":"10.1017\/langcog.2019.39","article-title":"Searching for specific sentence meaning in context: the conceptual relation between participants","volume":"11","author":"Lai","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lang. Cogn"},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"649","DOI":"10.1207\/s15516709cog2704_4","article-title":"Intra-sentential context effects on the interpretation of logical metonymy","volume":"27","author":"Lapata","year":"2003","journal-title":"Cognit. Sci."},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/0010-0277(91)90030-8","article-title":"Introduction to special issue of Cognition on lexical and conceptual semantics","volume":"41","author":"Levin","year":"1991","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"key":"B28","first-page":"390","article-title":"A note on possessive, existential and locative sentences","volume":"3","author":"Lyons","year":"1967","journal-title":"Found. Lang."},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2013.00226","article-title":"How language production shapes language form and comprehension","author":"MacDonald","year":"2013","journal-title":"Front. Psychol"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"676","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.101.4.676","article-title":"The lexical nature of syntactic ambiguity resolution","volume":"101","author":"MacDonald","year":"1994","journal-title":"Psychol. Rev"},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"B17","DOI":"10.1016\/S0010-0277(00)00113-X","article-title":"Reading time evidence for enriched composition","volume":"78","author":"McElree","year":"2001","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"279","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1005932710202","article-title":"\u201cThe syntax of idioms,\u201d","author":"O'grady","year":"1998","journal-title":"Natural Language & Linguistic Theory"},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"624","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315625157-40","article-title":"\u201cConcept composition during language processing: a model and two case studies,\u201d","volume-title":"The Routledge handbook of Applied Chinese Linguistics","author":"Pi\u00f1ango","year":"2019"},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"359","DOI":"10.1093\/jos\/ffv003","article-title":"Reanalyzing the complement coercion effect through a generalized lexical semantics for aspectual verbs","volume":"33","author":"Pi\u00f1ango","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Semant."},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"233","DOI":"10.1007\/s10936-006-9013-z","article-title":"Time-course of semantic composition: The case of aspectual coercion","volume":"35","author":"Pi\u00f1ango","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Psycholinguist. Res."},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"351","DOI":"10.1111\/cogs.12341","article-title":"Metonymy as referential dependency: psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic arguments for a unified linguistic treatment","volume":"41","author":"Pi\u00f1ango","year":"2017","journal-title":"Cognit. Sci."},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"395","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1023241115818","article-title":"Real-time processing implications of enriched composition at the syntax-semantics interface","volume":"28","author":"Pi\u00f1ango","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Psycholinguist. Res."},{"volume-title":"Learnability and Cognition: the Acquisition of Argument Structure","year":"1989","author":"Pinker","key":"B38"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/3225.001.0001","volume-title":"The Generative Lexicon","author":"Pustejovsky","year":"1995"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2009.02377.x","article-title":"Language promotes false-belief understanding: evidence from learners of a new sign language","author":"Pyers","year":"2009","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1905","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn.2007.19.11.1905","article-title":"An MEG study of silent meaning","volume":"19","author":"Pylkk\u00e4nen","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Cognit. Neurosci."},{"volume-title":"My Ishmael","year":"1998","author":"Quinn","key":"B42"},{"key":"B43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"995","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2005.01649.x","article-title":"Secret agents: inferences about hidden causes by10-and 12-month-old infants","volume":"16","author":"Saxe","year":"2005","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"B44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.1037\/0012-1649.43.1.149","article-title":"Knowing who dunnit: infants identify the causal agent in an unseen causal interaction","volume":"43","author":"Saxe","year":"2007","journal-title":"Dev. Psychol."},{"key":"B45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"645","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022-5371(79)90355-4","article-title":"Lexical access during sentence comprehension: (Re) consideration of context effects","volume":"18","author":"Swinney","year":"1979","journal-title":"J. Verb. Learn. Verb. Behav."},{"key":"B46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1207\/s15516709cog1201_2","article-title":"Force dynamics in language and cognition","volume":"12","author":"Talmy","year":"1988","journal-title":"Cognit. Sci."},{"volume-title":"Toward a Cognitive Semantics","year":"2000","author":"Talmy","key":"B47"},{"key":"B48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1515\/9783110589245-001","article-title":"\u201cCognitive semantics,\u201d","volume-title":"Semantics: Theories","author":"Talmy","year":"2019"},{"volume-title":"Elements of Episodic Memory.","year":"1983","author":"Tulving","key":"B49"},{"key":"B50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.psych.53.100901.135114","article-title":"Episodic memory: From mind to brain","volume":"53","author":"Tulving","year":"2002","journal-title":"Ann. Rev. Psychol."},{"volume-title":"The Oxford Handbook of Compositionality","year":"2012","author":"Werning","key":"B51"},{"key":"B52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1017\/S1470542705000012","article-title":"Beers, kaffi, and Schnaps: different grammatical options for restaurant talk coercions in three Germanic languages","volume":"17","author":"Wiese","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Ger. Linguist."},{"volume-title":"Linguistic Variation from Cognitive Variability: The Case of English Have","year":"2021","author":"Zhang","key":"B53"},{"key":"B54","first-page":"2783","article-title":"\u201cReal-time roots of meaning change: electrophysiology reveals the contextual-modulation processing basis of synchronic variation in the location-possession domain,\u201d","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society","author":"Zhang","year":"2018"},{"key":"B55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1353\/lan.2021.0088","article-title":"Individuals' \u2018autistic-like' traits, but not binary gender group, underlie linguistic context-sensitivity: word-meaning variation in English have-sentences","volume":"98","author":"Zhang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Language"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frai.2023.1025293\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,22]],"date-time":"2024-10-22T15:04:53Z","timestamp":1729609493000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frai.2023.1025293\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,19]]},"references-count":55,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/frai.2023.1025293"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frai.2023.1025293","relation":{},"ISSN":["2624-8212"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2624-8212"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,19]]},"article-number":"1025293"}}