Although
the borderline between various linguistic units is not always sharp
and clear, we shall try to define every new term on its first
appearance at once simply and unambiguously, if not always very
rigorously. The approximate definition of the term word
has already been given in the opening page of the book.
The
important point to remember about
definitions
is that they should indicate the most essential characteristic
features of the notion expressed by the term under discussion, the
features by which this notion is distinguished from other similar
notions. For instance, in defining the word one must distinguish it
from other linguistic units, such as the phoneme, the morpheme, or
the word-group. In contrast with a definition, a description
aims at enumerating all the essential features of a notion.
To
make things easier we shall begin by a preliminary description,
illustrating it with some examples.
The
word
may be described as the basic unit of language. Uniting meaning and
form, it is composed of one or more morphemes, each consisting of one
or more spoken sounds or their written representation. Morphemes as
we have already said are also meaningful units but they cannot be
used independently, they are always parts of words whereas words can
be used as a complete utterance (e. g. Listen!).
The
combinations of morphemes within words are subject to certain linking
conditions. When a derivational affix is added a new word is formed,
thus, listen
and
listener
are
different words. In fulfilling different grammatical functions words
may take functional affixes: listen
and
listened
are
different forms of the same word. Different forms of the same word
can be also built analytically with the help of auxiliaries. E.g.:
The
world should listen then as I am listening now (Shelley).
When
used in sentences together with other words they are syntactically
organised. Their freedom of entering into syntactic constructions is
limited by many factors, rules and constraints (e. g.: They
told me this story but
not *They
spoke me this story).
The
definition of every basic notion is a very hard task: the definition
of a word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because the
27
simplest
word has many different aspects. It has a sound form because it is a
certain arrangement of phonemes; it has its morphological structure,
being also a certain arrangement of morphemes; when used in actual
speech, it may occur in different word forms, different syntactic
functions and signal various meanings. Being the central element of
any language system, the word is a sort of focus for the problems of
phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology and also for some other
sciences that have to deal with language and speech, such as
philosophy and psychology, and probably quite a few other branches of
knowledge. All attempts to characterise the word are necessarily
specific for each domain of science and are therefore considered
one-sided by the representatives of all the other domains and
criticised for incompleteness. The variants of definitions were so
numerous that some authors (A. Rossetti, D.N. Shmelev) collecting
them produced works of impressive scope and bulk.
A
few examples will suffice to show that any definition is conditioned
by the aims and interests of its author.
Thomas
Hobbes (1588-1679),
one
of the great English philosophers, revealed a materialistic approach
to the problem of nomination when he wrote that words are not mere
sounds but names of matter. Three centuries later the great Russian
physiologist I.P. Pavlov (1849-1936)
examined
the word in connection with his studies of the second signal system,
and defined it as a universal signal that can substitute any other
signal from the environment in evoking a response in a human
organism. One of the latest developments of science and engineering
is machine translation. It also deals with words and requires a
rigorous definition for them. It runs as follows: a word is a
sequence of graphemes which can occur between spaces, or the
representation of such a sequence on morphemic level.
Within
the scope of linguistics the word has been defined syntactically,
semantically, phonologically and by combining various approaches.
It
has been syntactically defined for instance as “the minimum
sentence” by H. Sweet and much later by L. Bloomfield as “a
minimum free form”. This last definition, although structural in
orientation, may be said to be, to a certain degree, equivalent to
Sweet’s, as practically it amounts to the same thing: free forms
are later defined as “forms which occur as sentences”.
E.
Sapir takes into consideration the syntactic and semantic aspects
when he calls the word “one of the smallest completely satisfying
bits of isolated ‘meaning’, into which the sentence resolves
itself”. Sapir also points out one more, very important
characteristic of the word, its indivisibility:
“It cannot be cut into without a disturbance of meaning, one or two
other or both of the several parts remaining as a helpless waif on
our hands”. The essence of indivisibility will be clear from a
comparison of the article a
and
the prefix a-
in
a
lion and
alive.
A lion is
a word-group because we can separate its elements and insert other
words between them: a
living lion, a dead lion. Alive is
a word: it is indivisible, i.e. structurally impermeable: nothing can
be inserted between its elements. The morpheme a-
is
not free, is not a word. The
28
situation
becomes more complicated if we cannot be guided by solid spelling.’
“The Oxford English Dictionary», for instance, does not
include the
reciprocal pronouns each
other and
one
another under
separate headings, although
they should certainly be analysed as word-units, not as word-groups
since they have become indivisible: we now say with
each other and
with
one another instead
of the older forms one
with another or
each
with the other.1
Altogether
is
one word according to its spelling, but how is one to treat all
right, which
is rather a similar combination?
When
discussing the internal cohesion of the word the English linguist
John Lyons points out that it should be discussed in terms of two
criteria “positional
mobility”
and
“uninterruptability”.
To illustrate the first he segments into morphemes the following
sentence:
the
—
boy
—
s
—
walk
—
ed
—
slow
—
ly
—
up
—
the
—
hill
The
sentence may be regarded as a sequence of ten morphemes, which occur
in a particular order relative to one another. There are several
possible changes in this order which yield an acceptable English
sentence:
slow
—
ly
—
the
—
boy
—
s
—
walk
—
ed
—
up
—
the
—
hill
up —
the
—
hill
—
slow
—
ly
—
walk
—
ed
—
the
—
boy
—
s
Yet
under all the permutations certain groups of morphemes behave as
‘blocks’ —
they
occur always together, and in the same order relative to one another.
There is no possibility of the sequence s
—
the
—
boy,
ly —
slow,
ed —
walk.
“One
of the characteristics of the word is that it tends to be internally
stable (in terms of the order of the component morphemes), but
positionally mobile (permutable with other words in the same
sentence)”.2
A
purely semantic treatment will be found in Stephen Ullmann’s
explanation: with him connected discourse, if analysed from the
semantic point of view, “will fall into a certain number of
meaningful segments which are ultimately composed of meaningful
units. These meaningful units are called words.»3
The
semantic-phonological approach may be illustrated by A.H.Gardiner’s
definition: “A word is an articulate sound-symbol in its aspect of
denoting something which is spoken about.»4
The
eminent French linguist A. Meillet (1866-1936)
combines
the semantic, phonological and grammatical criteria and advances a
formula which underlies many subsequent definitions, both abroad and
in our country, including the one given in the beginning of this
book: “A word is defined by the association of a particular meaning
with a
1
Sapir
E. Language.
An Introduction to the Study of Speech. London, 1921,
P.
35.
2 Lyons,
John. Introduction
to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1969.
P. 203.
3 Ullmann
St. The
Principles of Semantics. Glasgow, 1957.
P.
30.
4 Gardiner
A.H. The
Definition of the Word and the Sentence //
The
British Journal of Psychology. 1922.
XII.
P. 355
(quoted
from: Ullmann
St.,
Op.
cit., P. 51).
29
particular
group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment.»1
This
definition does not permit us to distinguish words from phrases
because not only child,
but
a
pretty child as
well are combinations of a particular group of sounds with a
particular meaning capable of a particular grammatical employment.
We
can, nevertheless, accept this formula with some modifications,
adding that a word is the smallest significant unit of a given
language capable of functioning alone and characterised by positional
mobility
within
a sentence, morphological
uninterruptability
and semantic
integrity.2
All these criteria are necessary because they permit us to create a
basis for the oppositions between the word and the phrase, the word
and the phoneme, and the word and the morpheme: their common feature
is that they are all units of the language, their difference lies in
the fact that the phoneme is not significant, and a morpheme cannot
be used as a complete utterance.
Another
reason for this supplement is the widespread scepticism concerning
the subject. It has even become a debatable point whether a word is a
linguistic unit and not an arbitrary segment of speech. This opinion
is put forth by S. Potter, who writes that “unlike a phoneme or a
syllable, a word is not a linguistic unit at all.»3
He calls it a conventional and arbitrary segment of utterance, and
finally adopts the already mentioned
definition of L. Bloomfield. This position is, however, as
we have already mentioned, untenable, and in fact S. Potter himself
makes ample use of the word as a unit in his linguistic analysis.
The
weak point of all the above definitions is that they do not establish
the relationship between language and thought, which is formulated if
we treat the word as a dialectical unity of form and content, in
which the form is the spoken or written expression which calls up a
specific meaning, whereas the content is the meaning rendering the
emotion or the concept in the mind of the speaker which he intends to
convey to his listener.
Summing
up our review of different definitions, we come to the conclusion
that they are bound to be strongly dependent upon the line of
approach, the aim the scholar has in view. For a comprehensive word
theory, therefore, a description seems more appropriate than a
definition.
The
problem of creating a word theory based upon the materialistic
understanding of the relationship between word and thought on the one
hand, and language and society, on the other, has been one of the
most discussed for many years. The efforts of many eminent scholars
such as V.V. Vinogradov, A. I. Smirnitsky, O.S. Akhmanova, M.D.
Stepanova, A.A. Ufimtseva —
to
name but a few, resulted in throwing light
1
Meillet
A. Linguistique
historique et linguistique generate. Paris,
1926.
Vol.
I. P. 30.
2 It
might be objected that such words as articles, conjunctions and a few
other words
never occur as sentences, but they are not numerous and could be
collected into a
list of exceptions.
3 See:
Potter
S. Modern
Linguistics. London, 1957.
P.
78.
30
on this problem and achieved a
clear presentation of the word as a basic unit of the language. The
main points may now be summarised.
The
word
is the
fundamental
unit
of language.
It is a dialectical
unity
of form
and
content.
Its content or meaning is not identical to notion, but it may reflect
human notions, and in this sense may be considered as the form of
their existence. Concepts fixed in the meaning of words are formed as
generalised and approximately correct reflections of reality,
therefore in signifying them words reflect reality in their content.
The
acoustic aspect of the word serves to name objects of reality, not to
reflect them. In this sense the word may be regarded as a sign. This
sign, however, is not arbitrary but motivated by the whole process of
its development. That is to say, when a word first comes into
existence it is built out of the elements already available in the
language and according to the existing patterns.
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Maybe you are in the middle of an exam and suddenly come across a word that makes absolutely no sense. This is usually a cue for most people to panic if a dictionary is not handy. But don’t worry! There are several steps you can take to help you figure out the meaning of a word without a dictionary.
-
1
Read the entire sentence. It can be very frustrating to have your reading interrupted by an unknown word. If you are in the middle of an exam or an assignment for school or work, it can also be very stressful. If you can’t reach for a dictionary, take other steps to figure out what the word means.
- Your first step is to go back and re-read the entire sentence. You probably lost track of what your were reading when you stumbled upon the new word.
- Think about the content of the sentence. Do you understand the sentence without using the new word? Or is it incomprehensible?
- Try underlining the unknown word. This will help you separate it from the rest of the sentence.
-
2
Identify words you do understand. You can often use other words in the sentence to help you define the unknown word. Think about what else is happening in the sentence. Hopefully, this will help you figure out whether the unknown word is a noun, verb, or adjective.
- For example, maybe you are looking at a sentence that says, «It was a very sultry day in the middle of the summer.» You probably understand each word except for «sultry».
- Think about what you know about the summer. It is likely that «sultry» has something to do with weather.
- Maybe your biology exam has this sentence, «Many members of the canine family are predators, looking for other animals to eat.» You can surmise that «predators» prey on other animals.
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-
3
Look for illustrative examples. Once you have examined the other words in that sentence, you can move on. Start looking at the sentences that follow the unknown word. An author will often give descriptions that can help you figure out the meaning of an unknown word.[1]
- For example, take the sentence, «It was a very sultry day in the middle of summer.» It could be followed by the sentence, «The heat and humidity made it appealing to sit in the shade and drink lemonade.»
- You can now more confidently define «sultry». The descriptive words such as «heat» and «humidity» are further clues that it is a description of the weather.
- Sometimes, the descriptive examples will be right in the original sentence. For example, it could say, «Sultry days are so damp and hot.»
-
4
Think logically. Sometimes, the context clues will not be as clear. You will have to use logic to figure out the word. You can also use experience, or prior knowledge, of the topic.[2]
- For example, maybe a sentence says, «In the antebellum South, many plantation owners kept slaves.» It is likely that «antebellum» is the unknown word.
- The sentence itself does not offer many clues. However, the following sentences are, «But after the Civil War, slavery was outlawed. This was a major change between the two periods.»
- Think about what you know now. You are reading information about two different time periods, right? Before the Civil War and after the Civil War.
- You can now make a pretty logical assumption about the word «antebellum». Based on your experience and reading the following sentences, you know it probably means «before the war».
-
5
Use other context clues. Sometimes an author will offer other types of clues. Look for restatement. This is where the meaning of the word is restated in other words.
- Here is an example of «restatement»: «The pig squealed in pain. The high-pitched cry was very loud.»
- You can also look for «appositives». This is where an author highlights a specific word by placing a further description between two commas.
- This is an example of the use of an appositive: «The Taj Mahal, which is a massive white marble mausoleum, is one of the most famous landmarks in India.
- You may not know the words «Taj Mahal», but the use of appositives makes it clear that it is a landmark.
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-
1
Look for a prefix. Etymology is the study of the meanings of words. It also looks at the origins of words, and how they have changed over time. By learning about etymology, you can find new ways to define unknown words without using a dictionary.
- Start by looking at each part of the word in question. It is very helpful to look to see if the word has a common prefix.
- Prefixes are the first part of the word. For example, a common prefix is «anti».
- «Anti» means «against». Knowing this should help you figure out the meanings of words such as «antibiotic» or «antithesis».
- «Extra» is a prefix that means «beyond». Use this to figure out words such as «extraterrestrial» or «extracurricular».
- Other common prefixes are «hyper», «intro», «macro» and «micro». You can also look for prefixes such as «multi», «neo» and «omni».
-
2
Pay attention to the suffix. The suffix are the letters at the end of the word. There are several suffixes in the English language that are common. They can help you figure out what kind of word you are looking at.
- Some suffixes indicate a noun. For example, «ee» at the end of the word almost always indicates a noun. Some examples are «trainee» and «employee».
- «-ity» is also a common suffix for a noun. Examples include «electricity» and «velocity».
- Other suffixes indicate verbs. For example, «-ate». This is used in words such as «create» and «deviate».
- «-ize» is another verb suffix. Think about the words «exercise» and «prioritize».
-
3
Identify root words. A root word is the core word, without a prefix or suffix. Most words in the English language come from either a Latin or Greek root word.[3]
- By learning common root words, you can begin to identify new words more easily. You will also be able to recognize words that have had a prefix or suffix added.
- An example of a root word is «love». You can add many things to the word: «-ly» to make «lovely».
- «Bio» is a Greek root word. It means «life, or living matter». Think about how we have adapted this root word to become «biology», «biography», or «biodegradable».
- The root word mater- or matri- comes from the Latin word mater, meaning mother. By understanding this root, you can better understand the definitions of words like matron, maternity, matricide, matrimony, and matriarchal.
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-
1
Keep notes. If you can increase the size of your vocabulary, you will find yourself less likely to encounter unknown words. There are several steps you can take to effectively build your vocabulary. For example, you can start by writing notes.
- Every time you encounter an unfamiliar word, write it down. Then later, when you have access to a dictionary, you can look it up for a precise definition.
- Keep a small pack of sticky notes with you while you read. You can write the unfamiliar word on a note and just stick it on the page to return to later.
- Start carrying a small notebook. You can use it to keep track of words that you don’t know and new words that you have learned.
-
2
Utilize multiple resources. There are a lot of tools that you can use to help you build your vocabulary. The most obvious is a dictionary. Purchase a hard copy, or book mark an online dictionary that you find useful.
- A thesaurus can also be very helpful. It will give you synonyms for all of the new words you are learning.
- Try a word of the day calendar. These handle desk tools will give you a new word to learn each day. They are available online and at bookstores.
-
3
Read a lot. Reading is one of the best ways to increase the size of your vocabulary. Make it a point to read each day. Both fiction and non-fiction will be helpful.
- Novels can expose you to new words. For example, reading the latest legal thriller will likely expose you to some legal jargon you’ve never heard before.
- Read the newspaper. Some papers even have a daily feature that highlights language and explores the meanings of words.
- Make time to read each day. You could make it a point to scroll through the news while you drink your morning coffee, for example.
-
4
Play games. Learning can actually be fun! There are many enjoyable activities that can help you to build your vocabulary. Try doing crossword puzzles.
- Crossword puzzles are a great way to learn new words. They will also stretch your brain by giving you interesting clues to figure out the right word.
- Play Scrabble. You’ll quickly learn that unusual words can often score the most points.
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-
Question
Is there a list of prefixes/suffixes, or a simple etymology handbook, that I can obtain from the Internet or someplace else?
I’m sure there are many! Check websites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or other booksellers who might sell grammar handbooks. You could also try checking your local book stores.
-
Question
How does one find out and understand the formation of words?
If you can recognize the prefixes, suffixes, and anything else that might alter the root word, then you’ll know how the root is being altered. For example, ‘amuse’ is made up of ‘a’ as in ‘not’ and ‘muse’ referring to ponderous thought. Even if you don’t recognize the root ‘muse’ because it’s a more archaic term, you know that the ‘a’ inverses it’s meaning.
-
Question
How can I know the exact meaning of a word using dictionaries from many leanings given?
Substitute each meaning into the sentence where you encountered the word, and see which definition makes the most sense within the context of that sentence.
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-
Keep a notebook. This could be useful if you come across a word that you want to learn later, if you want to list any words that share suffixes or prefixes (both of which are known as «roots», which also include anything that goes into the middle.)
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Read etymology dictionaries. They are found online and presumably in bookstores if you look hard enough.
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Make your own notes in your personal English notebook to remember important points later on.
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About This Article
Article SummaryX
To understand a word without a dictionary, try re-reading the entire sentence to see if the context helps you to find out what the word means. If it’s unclear, try to figure it out by thinking about the meaning of the words you’re familiar with, since the unknown word might have a similar meaning. Additionally, look for common prefixes in words, such as «anti,» which means against, or «extra,» which means beyond. Next, check the following sentences for clues, such as the topic the word is related to. Alternatively, keep a list of unknown words so you can check them in a dictionary at a later date. For tips on how to identify root words and how to learn words by doing crossword puzzles, read on!
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Aaron Junior
Jul 26, 2016
«This article has really helped me especially finding the meaning of the word using prefixes, suffixes, and word…» more
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Where can I search for words using descriptive sentences? For example, now I’m looking for a word meaning «to purify (by hand) a quantity of grain and take away anything that isn’t good grain.»
How could I get words like that? I know it in my first-language, but I don’t have a classic version of it to use in automatic translators.
Maybe a search engine that uses content words from my description and offers words that could mean the same with their dictionary definitions. Nothing I’d tried in (translate.)google.com gave me the desired result.
Update:
An example dictionary that I use is (Oxford’s Word-Power Dictionary). It’s not for the purpose of the question but for clarification.
Oxford’s has a 3,000 word list of ‘bare-bone-essentials.’ It contains the most-used words in English and all of the grammatical operators. Ideally, these are the words necessary for a learner to use an English-English dictionary such as Oxford’s. The descriptions of words in Oxford’s rely on this list for definitions.
An electronic (web-based) dictionary for word-meaning-search should have a larger list (maybe 10,000) and use a thesaurus to down-level difficult words a user may use in the search then, using all content words in the search phrase, present a list of words whose definitions seem appropriate. Another regular dictionary may be used from there.
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Example:
Search query: «to use hands to purify a quantity of grain taking away anything that isn’t good grain.»
Content Words: «use-hands; purify; quantity-of-grain; taking-away; anything; isn’t; good-grain»
Filtered: «use-hands; clean; quantity-of-seeds; take-away;anything; not-good-grain»
Words: «1; 2; 3; 4» that use the content words to varying degrees.
And that’s a five minutes’ work!
PS. Sorry about the delay; connection problems…
Definition of a Word
A word is a speech sound or a combination of sound having a particular meaning for an idea, object or thought and has a spoken or written form. In English language word is composed by an individual letter (e.g., ‘I’), I am a boy, or by combination of letters (e.g., Jam, name of a person) Jam is a boy. Morphology, a branch of linguistics, deals with the structure of words where we learn under which rules new words are formed, how we assigned a meaning to a word? how a word functions in a proper context? how to spell a word? etc.
Examples of word: All sentences are formed by a series of words. A sentence starts with a word, consists on words and ends with a word. Therefore, there is nothing else in a sentence than a word.
Some different examples are: Boy, kite, fox, mobile phone, nature, etc.
Different Types of Word
There are many types of word; abbreviation, acronym, antonym, back formation, Clipped words (clipping), collocation, compound words, Content words, contractions, derivation, diminutive, function word, homograph, homonym, homophone, legalism, linker, conjunct, borrowed, metonym, monosyllable, polysyllable, rhyme, synonym, etc. Read below for short introduction to each type of word.
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a word that is a short form of a long word.
Example: Dr for doctor, gym for gymnasium
Acronym
Acronym is one of the commonly used types of word formed from the first letter or letters of a compound word/ term and used as a single word.
Example: PIA for Pakistan International Airline
Antonym
An antonym is a word that has opposite meaning of an another word
Example: Forward is an antonym of word backward or open is an antonym of word close.
Back formation
Back formation word is a new word that is produced by removing a part of another word.
Example: In English, ‘tweeze’ (pluck) is a back formation from ‘tweezers’.
Clipped words
Clipped word is a word that has been clipped from an already existing long word for ease of use.
Example: ad for advertisement
Collocation
Collocation is a use of certain words that are frequently used together in form of a phrase or a short sentence.
Example: Make the bed,
Compound words
Compound words are created by placing two or more words together. When compound word is formed the individual words lose their meaning and form a new meaning collectively. Both words are joined by a hyphen, a space or sometime can be written together.
Example: Ink-pot, ice cream,
Content word
A content word is a word that carries some information or has meaning in speech and writing.
Example: Energy, goal, idea.
Contraction
A Contraction is a word that is formed by shortening two or more words and joining them by an apostrophe.
Example: ‘Don’t’ is a contraction of the word ‘do not’.
Derivation
Derivation is a word that is derived from within a language or from another language.
Example: Strategize (to make a plan) from strategy (a plan).
Diminutive
Diminutive is a word that is formed by adding a diminutive suffix with a word.
Example: Duckling by adding suffix link with word duck.
Function word
Function word is a word that is mainly used for expressing some grammatical relationships between other words in a sentence.
Example: (Such as preposition, or auxiliary verb) but, with, into etc.
Homograph
Homograph is a word that is same in written form (spelled alike) as another word but with a different meaning, origin, and occasionally pronounced with a different pronunciation
Example: Bow for ship and same word bow for shooting arrows.
Homonym
Homonyms are the words that are spelled alike and have same pronunciation as another word but have a different meaning.
Example: Lead (noun) a material and lead (verb) to guide or direct.
Homophone
Homophones are the words that have same pronunciation as another word but differ in spelling, meaning, and origin.
Example: To, two, and too are homophones.
Hyponym
Hyponym is a word that has more specific meaning than another more general word of which it is an example.
Example: ‘Parrot’ is a hyponym of ‘birds’.
Legalism
Legalism is a type of word that is used in law terminology.
Example: Summon, confess, judiciary
Linker/ conjuncts
Linker or conjuncts are the words or phrase like ‘however’ or ‘what’s more’ that links what has already been written or said to what is following.
Example: however, whereas, moreover.
Loanword/ borrowed
A loanword or borrowed word is a word taken from one language to use it in another language without any change.
Example: The word pizza is taken from Italian language and used in English language
Metonym
Metonym is a word which we use to refer to something else that it is directly related to that.
Example: ‘Islamabad’ is frequently used as a metonym for the Pakistan government.
Monosyllable
Monosyllable is a word that has only one syllable.
Example: Come, go, in, yes, or no are monosyllables.
Polysyllable
Polysyllable is a word that has two or more than two syllables.
Example: Interwoven, something or language are polysyllables.
Rhyme
Rhyme is a type of word used in poetry that ends with similar sound as the other words in stanza.
Example; good, wood, should, could.
Synonym
Synonym is a word that has similar meaning as another word.
Example: ‘happiness’ is a synonym for ‘joy’.