Emergent Properties of Multilingual Lexicons
Paul M. Meara · Applied Linguistics · 2006
This paper explores some properties of very simple network structures. It argues that the behaviour of these structures might be able to throw some light on how real lexicons behave. The paper argues that working with very explicit and over simplified models of lexicons might sometimes have advantages over working with more realistic but vague models, whose detailed workings are underspecified. The simple models make it easier to determine what features of bilingual lexicons are merely general properties of networks, and which features arise because of the specific properties a real lexicon might have.