ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses what Lakoff regards as two confused interpretations of prototype theory: The 'effects = structure interpretation', according to which 'goodness of ratings is a direct reflection of degree of category membership' and the 'prototype = representation interpretation', according to which 'categories are represented in the mind in terms of prototypes, and degrees of category membership for other entities are determined by their degree of similarity to the prototype'. The chapter clarifies the notion of representation in linguistics, since it is crucial to the evaluation of these two points. The chapter shows that the structure of natural categories as described by psychologists is of an ordinal nature. The chapter explains that the polysemy of over could be profitably reduced and how the limitation of polysemy reduces the range of possible variations and consequently makes it possible to get closer to the category structure.
