Conceptual Combination and Modification

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Conceptual combination is the process of combining information from two (or more) concepts to generate a new concept (e.g., combining dog and house to generate doghouse). Conceptual combination is interesting in that 1) it provides information about the adequacy of theories of individual concepts, in the sense that theories of concepts need to provide the underpinnings to account for conceptual combination, 2) it provides information about the relation between the language system and the conceptual system, because much conceptual combination occurs in the context of producing and interpreting noun phrases, and 3) it provides the basis for the creation of compound words, a common process in many languages.