Paul Meara
Biographic Data
| ID | 458982 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paul Meara |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paul |
| FAMILY NAME | Meara |
| SIGNATURE | MEARA P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Swansea University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8863-5374 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 79 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Imaginary Words
This entry describes some of the uses of imaginary words in psycholinguistic and SLA research. It discusses some of the ways that researchers have developed imaginary word lists and recommends some cautions that researchers need to be aware of when they use imaginary words in experimental studies.
Basic English
Basic English was developed by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards during the 1920s and 1930s. It grew out of an earlier and very influential collaboration which appeared as The Meaning of Meaning in 1923.
The Iranian Research on Vocabulary Acquisition: An Exploratory Review
This paper describes a set of papers published between 2015 and 2024 by Iranian researchers working on L2 vocabulary acquisition. This work is not always picked up by the standard bibliographical databases, and for this reason it is not well known to vocabulary researchers outside Iran. Nonetheless, this body of research accounts for a significant proportion of the total output of vocabulary research. This paper is a preliminary attempt to come t…
Thirty Years on: A Bibliometric Analysis of L2 Vocabulary Research Published in 2020
This paper presents an author co-citation analysis of the research on L2 vocabulary acquisition that was published in the 2020 calendar year. The most significant influence at this time is Paul Nation-cited in 85% of the publication set-but a number of other important influences can also be identified, notably, Laufer, Hulstijn, Schmitt and Webb. This paper draws some comparisons with data from 1990, and speculates on how "research fronts" might …
Modelling L2 vocabulary acquisition: The devil is in the detail
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Imaginary Words
Imaginary words—sometimes also called pseudo‐words, nonsense words, or nonce words—are strings of letters which resemble real words but do not actually exist as words in a specific language. Thus, ‘shern’ is a plausible letter string for English, but does not appear as a word in any of the standard dictionaries.
Translating Lorca: A Graph Theory Approach
This paper describes how word associations might be used to compare translations of literary texts. The approach is illustrated by comparing the association patterns elicited by key words in two translations of Lorca’s Romance de la Luna Luna. The paper suggests that an analysis of this sort might be able to provide some useful correctives to the more subjective evaluations which are sometimes found in traditional literary criticism
Emergent Properties of Multilingual Lexicons
Journal Article Emergent Properties of Multilingual Lexicons Get access Paul Meara Paul Meara University of Wales Swansea Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 620–644, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml030 Published: 01 December 2006 Article history Accepted: 01 June 2006 Published: 01 December 2006
Lexical Frequency Profiles: A Monte Carlo Analysis
This paper reports a set of Monte Carlo simulations designed to evaluate the main claims made by Laufer and Nation about the Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP). Laufer and Nation claim that the LFP is a sensitive and reliable tool for assessing productive vocabulary in L2 speakers, and they suggest it might have a serious role to play in diagnostic evaluations of learners. The simulations suggest that LFP is not in fact all that sensitive. It works …
A further note on simulating word association behaviour in a second language
This article explores some critical methodological and theoretical issues that emerge from recent research into word association behaviour in second language (L2) learners. The studies that we discuss here all use computer simulations as a tool to investigate L2 lexical networks, and to compare these networks with those of first language (L1) speakers. This article broaches some previously unacknowledged complexities in this kind of research, and…
Modelling Vocabulary Loss
This paper describes some simple simulation models of vocabulary attrition. The attrition process is modelled using a random autonomous Boolean network model, and some parallels with real attrition data are drawn. The paper argues that applying a complex systems approach to attrition can provide some important insights, which suggest that real attrition data may need to be treated with caution. It concludes that simulation methods - a technique t…
Psycholinguistics: A Resource Book for Students
Lexical Signatures in Foreign Language Free-Form Texts
This paper presents an investigation into the extent to which the lexical choices made by learners of a second language (L2) are distinctive. It follows on from an earlier paper by the same authors in which a neural network was successfully trained to mark a set of texts produced by L2 learners to the same standard, within broad categories, as had been awarded by experienced human markers. For this present paper, we examined a set of L2 texts and…
The rediscovery of vocabulary
This article reviews four recent books of current research in vocabulary acquisition. Vocabulary acquisition has moved from being a neglected backwater in second language acquisition (SLA) to a position of some importance, and this importance looks like increasing as lexical issues become more central to theoretical linguistics.The review suggests, however, that most vocabulary research in applied linguistics is based on a narrow linguistic agend…
Untangling word webs: Graph theory and the notion of density in second language word association networks
This article examines the implications of the metaphor of the ‘vocabulary network’. It takes a formal approach to the exploration of this metaphor by applying the principles of Graph Theory to word association data in order to compare the relative densities of first language (L1) and second language (L2) lexical networks. Earlier graph theoretical research into L2 word associations is reviewed and methodological flaws in this work discussed. It d…
The Bilingualism Reader
Lex30: An improved method of assessing productive vocabulary in an L2
Vocabulary and neural networks in the computational assessment of texts written by second-language learners
Simulating Recovery from Bilingual Aphasia
This paper describes how Random Boolean Networks can be used to simulate simple lexicons, and it shows how some puzzling properties of real lexicons seem to emerge spontaneously in these models. It goes on to describe some simple simulations of bilingual aphasia, and shows that a range of "recovery patterns” can be observed in these simulations. The patterns are not unlike the recovery patterns reported in the clinical literature—for example all …
Researching Vocabulary Through a Word Knowledge Framework: Word Associations and Verbal Suffixes
This study examines how two types of word knowledge, word associations and grammatical suffix knowledge, change over time both receptively and productively. Ninety-five secondary and postsecondary Japanese students were tested on three word associations and inflectional and derivational suffixes for each of 20 verbs, once near the beginning of their academic year and once near the end. The results showed their average vocabulary gain was 330 word…
How periods abroad affect vocabulary growth in a foreign language
Preview this article: How periods abroad affect vocabulary growth in a foreign language., Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/itl.107-108.02mil-1.gif
Single-subject studies of lexical acquisition
Can people discriminate languages they don't know
Patterns of misinterpretation in the productive use
Lexical inferencing procedures or talking about words
Untangling word webs: Graph theory and the notion of density in second language word association networks
This article examines the implications of the metaphor of the ‘vocabulary network’. It takes a formal approach to the exploration of this metaphor by applying the principles of Graph Theory to word association data in order to compare the relative densities of first language (L1) and second language (L2) lexical networks. Earlier graph theoretical research into L2 word associations is reviewed and methodological flaws in this work discussed. It d…
Vocabulary Acquisition: A Neglected Aspect of Language Learning
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The rediscovery of vocabulary
This article reviews four recent books of current research in vocabulary acquisition. Vocabulary acquisition has moved from being a neglected backwater in second language acquisition (SLA) to a position of some importance, and this importance looks like increasing as lexical issues become more central to theoretical linguistics.The review suggests, however, that most vocabulary research in applied linguistics is based on a narrow linguistic agend…
Patterns of misinterpretation in the productive use
Lex30: An improved method of assessing productive vocabulary in an L2
Vocabulary: Applied linguistic perspectives
A further note on simulating word association behaviour in a second language
This article explores some critical methodological and theoretical issues that emerge from recent research into word association behaviour in second language (L2) learners. The studies that we discuss here all use computer simulations as a tool to investigate L2 lexical networks, and to compare these networks with those of first language (L1) speakers. This article broaches some previously unacknowledged complexities in this kind of research, and…
How people listen to languages they don't know
Lexical inferencing procedures or talking about words
Can people discriminate languages they don't know
The psychological reality of deep and surface phonological representations: Evidence from speech errors in Welsh
Article The psychological reality of deep and surface phonological representations: evidence from speech errors in Welsh was published on January 1, 1981 in the journal Linguistics (volume 19, issue 7-8)
Vocabulary Acquisition: A Neglected Aspect of Language Learning
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The psychological reality of deep and surface phonological representations: Evidence from speech errors in Welsh
Article The psychological reality of deep and surface phonological representations: evidence from speech errors in Welsh was published on January 1, 1981 in the journal Linguistics (volume 19, issue 7-8)
Teaching vocabulary
An alternative to multiple choice vocabulary tests
This paper reports a preliminary evaluation of the Y/N technique for producing tests of vocabulary knowledge. The results obtained suggest advantages over the more traditional multiple choice format for testing vocabulary
Vocabulary: Applied linguistic perspectives
How people listen to languages they don't know
Network Structures and Vocabulary Acquisition in a Foreign Language
The starting point for this paper has nothing to do with vocabulary. It is in fact a classical study in social psychology, carried out by Stanley Milgram (Milgram, 1967). Milgram was interested in what has come to be known as the 'small world problem' — the curious coincidences which occur whenever groups of strangers meet, and find that they have acquaintances in common. From a purely statistical point of view, the fact that strangers have acqua…
Lexical inferencing procedures or talking about words
Patterns of misinterpretation in the productive use
How periods abroad affect vocabulary growth in a foreign language
Preview this article: How periods abroad affect vocabulary growth in a foreign language., Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/itl.107-108.02mil-1.gif
Single-subject studies of lexical acquisition
Can people discriminate languages they don't know
Researching Vocabulary Through a Word Knowledge Framework: Word Associations and Verbal Suffixes
This study examines how two types of word knowledge, word associations and grammatical suffix knowledge, change over time both receptively and productively. Ninety-five secondary and postsecondary Japanese students were tested on three word associations and inflectional and derivational suffixes for each of 20 verbs, once near the beginning of their academic year and once near the end. The results showed their average vocabulary gain was 330 word…
Simulating Recovery from Bilingual Aphasia
This paper describes how Random Boolean Networks can be used to simulate simple lexicons, and it shows how some puzzling properties of real lexicons seem to emerge spontaneously in these models. It goes on to describe some simple simulations of bilingual aphasia, and shows that a range of "recovery patterns” can be observed in these simulations. The patterns are not unlike the recovery patterns reported in the clinical literature—for example all …
Lex30: An improved method of assessing productive vocabulary in an L2
Vocabulary and neural networks in the computational assessment of texts written by second-language learners
The Bilingualism Reader
Lexical Signatures in Foreign Language Free-Form Texts
This paper presents an investigation into the extent to which the lexical choices made by learners of a second language (L2) are distinctive. It follows on from an earlier paper by the same authors in which a neural network was successfully trained to mark a set of texts produced by L2 learners to the same standard, within broad categories, as had been awarded by experienced human markers. For this present paper, we examined a set of L2 texts and…
The rediscovery of vocabulary
This article reviews four recent books of current research in vocabulary acquisition. Vocabulary acquisition has moved from being a neglected backwater in second language acquisition (SLA) to a position of some importance, and this importance looks like increasing as lexical issues become more central to theoretical linguistics.The review suggests, however, that most vocabulary research in applied linguistics is based on a narrow linguistic agend…
Untangling word webs: Graph theory and the notion of density in second language word association networks
This article examines the implications of the metaphor of the ‘vocabulary network’. It takes a formal approach to the exploration of this metaphor by applying the principles of Graph Theory to word association data in order to compare the relative densities of first language (L1) and second language (L2) lexical networks. Earlier graph theoretical research into L2 word associations is reviewed and methodological flaws in this work discussed. It d…
Psycholinguistics: A Resource Book for Students
Modelling Vocabulary Loss
This paper describes some simple simulation models of vocabulary attrition. The attrition process is modelled using a random autonomous Boolean network model, and some parallels with real attrition data are drawn. The paper argues that applying a complex systems approach to attrition can provide some important insights, which suggest that real attrition data may need to be treated with caution. It concludes that simulation methods - a technique t…
Lexical Frequency Profiles: A Monte Carlo Analysis
This paper reports a set of Monte Carlo simulations designed to evaluate the main claims made by Laufer and Nation about the Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP). Laufer and Nation claim that the LFP is a sensitive and reliable tool for assessing productive vocabulary in L2 speakers, and they suggest it might have a serious role to play in diagnostic evaluations of learners. The simulations suggest that LFP is not in fact all that sensitive. It works …
A further note on simulating word association behaviour in a second language
This article explores some critical methodological and theoretical issues that emerge from recent research into word association behaviour in second language (L2) learners. The studies that we discuss here all use computer simulations as a tool to investigate L2 lexical networks, and to compare these networks with those of first language (L1) speakers. This article broaches some previously unacknowledged complexities in this kind of research, and…
Emergent Properties of Multilingual Lexicons
Journal Article Emergent Properties of Multilingual Lexicons Get access Paul Meara Paul Meara University of Wales Swansea Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 620–644, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml030 Published: 01 December 2006 Article history Accepted: 01 June 2006 Published: 01 December 2006
Linguistics (29 works) · Psychology (25 works) · Computer Science (23 works) · Philosophy (17 works) · Vocabulary (17 works) · Second Language Acquisition and Learning (16 works) · Natural language processing (13 works) · Natural Language Processing Techniques (11 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Artificial Intelligence (7 works)