Competition Model and Contrastive Lexical Competition

Abstract

The Competition Model (CM) embraces lexicalist and functionalist approach to language structure and function. What is highly emphasized in this model is a lexicalist functionalism through which syntactic patterns are directed and controlled by lexical items. CM tenets resemble to that of Haliday’s systemic-Functional linguistics in that it only deals with form-meaning relations within a text and not in the real world. A new Competition Model needs to be introduced which is more pragmatic-oriented through taking formulaic sequences as forms to be mapped onto real world pragmatic functions.  CM must free itself from the mere focus on sentence processing studies and involve itself with more pragmatic manifestations of form-function relations. It is claimed that within the models in which there is an architecture that utilizes lexical categories to build “valence bridges”, L1-L2 translation equivalents facilitate crossing valence bridges which helps in discovering forthcoming elements and filling syntactic slots.