This chapter has dealt with the way in which words might be related to one another in the mental lexicon.It examined the atomic globule viewpoint-the suggestion that there is a universal stock of semantic components out of which all word are composed.
This theory ran into insuperable problems:no one has been able to specify what these atomic globules are,and they leave no trace in the processing of words.The arguments in favour of this viwepoint are based mainly on descriptive convenience and wishful thinking. Our overall conclusion was that they are useful descriptive devices for people such as lexicographers who need to describe things in a succinct and orderly way.But they are unlikely to exist in the mental lexicon.
Our next chapter therefore looks at 'cobweb theories'-and alternative view of how words might be related to one another.