ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the literature on semantic prototypes has its own prototypes, and if citation frequency is a reliable index, the semantic analysis of the verb lie by Coleman and Kay (C and K) is one of them. The word lie offers a good opportunity for recognizing the superiority of prototype over orthodox approaches. The purpose of C and K's study is to show that the verb lie cannot be adequately analysed within the framework of orthodox views of word meaning, and that it can be adequately analysed if a prototype conception of word meaning is adopted instead. The chapter argues that the particular semantic prototype they propose for lie is incorrectly defined even with regard to cases of clear applicability or of clear non-applicability of this word. It also argues that some of the cases of intermediate applicability that C and K actually discuss can be readily explained as reflections of insufficient precision in the organization of their experiment.