if both disjuncts are true, asclimbis. If we want to think of constructing meanings by means of conditions connected
withlogicaloperators, we could introduce a new non-Boolean operator withthis curious property. We mightcallit“ψ-
or,”(“ψ”for“psychological”), so thatclimbmeans‘riseψ-orclamber.’
Parallel analyses have been proposed for the verbslie(‘tell a lie’) (Coleman and Kay 1981) andsee(Jackendoff 1983,
based in part on Miller and Johnson-Laird 1976). Similar phenomena arise in lexical entries for nouns as well. For
instance, a prototypicalchairhas a prototypical for mand a standard function. Objects that have the proper function
but the wrong form—say beanbag chairs—are more marginal instances of the category; and so are objects that have
the right for mbut cannot fulfill the function—say chairs made of newspaper, or giant chairs. An object that violates
both conditions—say a pile of crumpled newspaper—is by no stretch of the imagination a chair. Lakoff (1987: ch. 4)
applies such an analysis to theconceptmother, whichincludes thewomanwho contributes geneticmaterial, thewoman
whobears thechild,and thewomanwhoraises thechild. Intoday's arrangementsofadoptionand geneticengineering,
not all three of these always coincide, and so the ter mis not always used prototypically.
Garrod etal. (1999) suggest that evenprepositionsmay display thissort ofcomponentstructure. For instance,inhas a
geometric and a functional component. The geometrical component stipulates that if X is in Y, X must be
geometricallywithintheinterior oftheregionsubtended byY. Thefunctional component is“containment”: roughly, X
is not attached to Y, but if one moves Y, X is physically forced to move along withit. The prototypical instances ofin,
such as a stone in a bottle,satisfybothconditions. However, there are well-known counterexamplesto thegeometrical
condition, such as the pear in the bowl shown in (11a) and the knife in the cheese shown in (11b).
These do satisfy the functional condition. One might suggest therefore that the functional condition is the correct
definition ofin. But when the objects being related are such that the functional condition cannot be satisfied, such
partial geometrical inclusion is far less acceptable: