[Corpora-List] registering conceptual and phraseological prototypes

[Patrick Hanks]

Hey, Michal!  Noticing something is not the same as liking it!  We are
drifting into conceptual confusion here.

I guess it's my fault (and if so, I apologize). "Focus on" was a bad choice
of verb in my posting. I should have said "notice" or "register". Let me
try again.

Can the well-known contrast between "given" and "new" be usefully applied
to lexical and phraseological recall? I think it can. One reason for doing
so would be its relevance to judgments about the reliability of invented
examples. The hypothesis I wish to propose is this:

Humans are hard-wired to notice and register comparatively novel or unusual
events (including their first -- potentially prototypical -- exposure to an
unfamiliar word or phrase) and to store stereotypical repetitions of
familiar events (such as ordinary everyday usage) deep in the subconscious,
not easily accessible for conscious recall.

My main evidence, admittedly anecdotal, is a lifetime of observing
pre-corpus lexicographers and linguists, including my younger self,
inventing examples of "normal usage" that turn out to be more or less
abnormal when compared with corpus evidence.

Would a cognitive scientist care to comment?

Patrick
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