SEMANTIC EVOLUTION OF BASIC MENTAL LEXICAL UNITS (BASED ON INTERLINGUAL CORRESPONDENCES IN SIBERIAN TURKIC, KIRGHIZ AND MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES)

The present article views the basic interlingual lexical correspondences expressing mental meanings in the Siberian Turkic, Kirghiz and Mongolian languages. In these languages, mental tokens are few; they are characterized by a ramified semantic structure and polysemy. In the semantics of the lexemes considered, the mental component prevails, less often the emotional component takes priority. The fixation of certain relevant properties for specific lexemes is associated with their combining abilities.

Rational constructivism, statistical inference, and core cognition

I make two points in this commentary on Carey (2009). First, it may be too soon to conclude that core cognition is innate. Recent advances in computational cognitive science and developmental psychology suggest possible mechanisms for developing inductive biases. Second, there is another possible answer to Fodor's challenge – if concepts are merely mental tokens, then cognitive scientists should spend their time on developing a theory of belief fixation instead.