Abstract

IBARRA GONZALEZ, Rodrigo; RODRIGUEZ SANCHEZ, Ignacio  and  RICO SULAYES, Antonio. From Dot to Area: Reflections from Complexity Theory to Represent Lexical Learning. Tóp. Sem [online]. 2019, n.42, pp.49-78.  Epub Jan 10, 2020. ISSN 2594-0619.

Science, as means of explaining reality, comes with an implicit bias that forces us to highlight or downplay the importance of particular factors in order to draw meaningful conclusions. Some of these factors are considered essential in scientific research while others can be disregarded as irrelevant. In addition to this preselection of factors, the scientific method itself brings with it its own constructs and representations that help to explain reality.

Linguistics, as a scientific discipline, shares interests, methodologies and representations with other scientific fields. Even though language has traditionally been studied as a simple system which can be explained by a sum of factors, recent studies showing codetermination between factors and non-linear changes call this assumption into question. As language is a dynamic system, the study of it requires new foci, methodologies and representations. This paper presents a new methodology for representing lexical learning among students of a second language. This methodology considers complexity essential, and at the same time, represents lexical change through dynamic maps. Finally, the paper discusses some of the implications that this proposal carries with it.

Keywords : linguistics; representation; complexity.

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