AhstractCommon linguistic phenomena such äs selectional restrictions (e.g., the verb assassinate applies only to prominent people) and verb polysemy (e.g. f one meaning of roll applies only to round objects, äs in John rolled the ball another only to flat flexible objects, äs in John rolled iip the flagj suggest t Hai verb learning is context sensitive f where context may be characterized in terms ofthe conceptual categories (e.g., basic-level kinds) or grammatically relevant properties (e.g., shape/dimensionality) that apply to the arguments of a verb. Two experiments lest the prediction that verb learners are predisposed to associate conceptual and/or grammatically relevant Information with the arguments of a verb. Children andadults were taught two different verb meanings, for the same made-up verb stem, in the context of two different objects; they were then testedon their ability to act out the meaning of the verb. It was found that subjects were able to learn that different verb meanings applied to different objects when those objects differed only in dimensionality or only in basic-level categories, but not when those objects differed only in the linguistically less-relevant dimension of size, or only in subordinate-or superordinate-level categories. The results are taken to support the hypothesis that verb learning is context sensitive, and are interpreted with respect to two possible functions of context sensitivity: how children acquire selectional restrictions on the use of a verb, and how they individuate the different versions of a polysemous verb.... by analyzing carefully the conditions under which people are able (or unable) to resolve polysemy, it may be possible to learn more about the kinds of contextual Information that are involved and how those contexts interact with stored lexical Information. Polysemy offers a window on the association of form and meaning.George Miller, The science ofwords

The history of medicine teaches us that this path of development was very rich in hobbies and mistakes, and that it was from misconceptions, from studying and overcoming them that the truth was obtained. Paradox and argument have always been powerful engines of medical science. No one has enriched medicine with new, fruitful ideas in the same way as those who have made big mistakes, fallen and rose again.

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