Final answer:
True, research similar to that of Swinney often investigates whether context is used in language processing to clarify the meanings of ambiguous words. These studies are aligned with the concepts of linguistic universals and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on linguistic relativity and perception.
Step-by-step explanation:
One hypothesis that Swinney tested was whether context was used to disambiguate words. In cognitive psychology and linguistics, the question of how humans understand words in context is passionately debated. While this statement does not directly reference any particular study by Swinney, it is true that similar research often explores the role of context in language processing. The mentioned work of Paul Kay and Willet Kempton involved testing how the linguistic categorization of color influences perception, suggesting that language and its constructs, like the availability of specific color terms, affect cognitive processes.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, often associated with ideas of linguistic relativity, proposes that the structure of a language affects its speakers' cognition and behavior. Studies that engage with this hypothesis, like the one examining the recognition of 'ambivalence' without having a word for it, show that language might influence how experiences are conceptualized, not whether experiences can occur.
Such research aligns with questioning whether content loaded linguistic cues help disambiguate words, implying that context helps us interpret meanings when a word alone is not sufficient for understanding. Thus, the hypothesis regarding the use of context to disambiguate words in language comprehension is plausible within the scope of related cognitive studies.