ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the thesis that meaning is encyclopaedic in nature. The thesis has two parts associated with it. The first part holds that semantic structure provides access to a large inventory of structured knowledge. The second part of the thesis holds that this encyclopaedic knowledge is grounded in human interaction with others and the world around us. It considers the view that encyclopaedic knowledge, accessed via language, provides simulations of perceptual experience. This relates to recent research in cognitive psychology that suggests that knowledge is represented in the mind as perceptual symbols. The traditional view in semantic theory holds that meaning can be divided into a dictionary component and an encyclopaedic component. Cognitive semanticists view encyclopaedic knowledge as a structured system of knowledge, organised as a network, and not all aspects of the knowledge that is, in principle, accessible by a single word has equal standing.
