Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

Rule-following, Lexical Competence and Categorization Processes

Abstract

The article addresses the issues of extending a category and updating a lexical concept, and determining its reference. Wetry to answer the questions: how can an object seen for the first time extend a category or update a concept? How is itpossible to determine the reference of a concept that represents a behaviour? Firstly, we discuss the learning of inferentiallinguistic competence used to update a concept through an approach based on prototype theory. Secondly, we discuss thelearning of referential linguistic competence used to determine the reference of a concept through an approach based onembodied cognition. Finally, on the basis of the dual dimension of the praxis of rule-following, we show how it is possibleto combine the two approaches into a single model that deals with both the extension of a category and the updating of aconcept, and the determination of the reference.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View