Context and homograph meaning resolution

Abstract

We describe an activation-based model of word recognition and apply it to the process of resolving the meaning of homographs presented in context. The interpretation of homographs was assessed by asking participants to decide whether a target word was related to the meaning of a sentence containing a homograph. These relatedness decisions varied systematically with the relative frequency of the homograph meanings, delay, and the nature of the sentence context. In the model, it was assumed that orthographic and contextual information combine additively to determine the activation of word meanings, and that the probability of a "related" response is determined by the activation level of the related meaning. The model accurately accounts for all observed effects, as well as their interaction. We conclude that the core process of lexical ambiguity resolution may be quite simple.