Conceptual spaces, features, and word meanings: The case of Dutch shirts

Abstract

This paper explores how a conceptual space for the representation of word meanings can be constructed and visualized for one particular domain, namely Dutch words for different types of shirts. It draws on earlier empirical corpus-based research that has identified different features for uniquely describing each of these types and different ways in which they are lexically described in fashion magazines. The present study defines a metric that makes it possible to construct a feature-based space in which the extension of each of the Dutch shirt terms can be visualized and in which it is possible to study the distribution of words and the validity of different constraints on that distribution: conjunctivity, convexity, connectivity, coherence, and centrality. Although the paper concludes that definite conclusions about these constraints are only possible on the basis of more complete lexical datasets, it demonstrates the potential of the conceptual space approach for studying word meanings.