Towards a cognitive compositional semantics: An overview of LCCM theory

// In: Further Insights into Semantics and Lexicography, edited by Ulf Magnusson, Henryk Kardela and Adam Glaz. — Lublin, Poland: Wydawnictwo UMCS, 2007. — pp. 11-42.In this paper I am concerned with the nature of word ‘meaning’ and their semantic contribution in combination. I argue that the semantic values associated with words are flexible, open-ended and highly dependent on the utterance context in which they are embedded. In attempting to provide an account of meaning-construction that coheres with this fact, I present a cognitively-realistic theory of lexical representation and a programmatic theory of lexical concept integration: the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models (LCCM Theory).