The function of a word as a language unit is

The word as a basic unit of language

The word is the subject matter of Lexicology. The
word may be described as a basic unit of language. The definition of
the word is one of the most difficult problems in Linguistics because
any word has many different aspects. It is simultaneously a semantic,
grammatical and phonological unit.
Accordingly the word may be defined as
the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of
a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a
particular grammatical employment. This
definition based on the definition of a word given by the eminent
French linguist Arthur Meillet does
not permit us to distinguish words from phrases. We
can accept the given definition adding that a word is the smallest
significant unit of a given language capable of functioning alone and
characterized by positional mobility within a sentence, morphological
uninterruptability and semantic integrity.
In Russian Linguistics it is the word but not the morpheme as in
American descriptive linguistics that is the basic unit of language
and the basic unit of lexical articulation of the flow of the speech.
Thus, the word is a structural and
semantic entity within the language system. The word is the basic
unit of the language system, the largest on the morphological level
and the smallest on the syntactic level of linguistic analysis.
As any language unit the word is a two facet unit possessing both its
outer form (sound form) and content (meaning) which is not created in
speech but used ready-maid. As the basic unit of language the word is
characterized by independence or separateness (отдельность),
as a free standing item, and identity (тождество).

The word as an independent
free standing language unit is
distinguished in speech due to its ability to take on grammatical
inflections (грамматическая
оформленнасть) which makes it
different from the morpheme.

The structural
integrity (цельная
оформленнасть) of the word
combined with the semantic integrity and morphological
uninterruptability (морфологическая
непрерывность) makes the word
different from word combinations.

The identity of the
word manifests itself in the ability of
a word to exist as a system and unity of all its forms (grammatical
forms creating its paradigm) and variants: lexical-semantic,
morphological, phonetic and graphic.

The system showing a word in all its word forms is
called its paradigm. The lexical meaning of a word is the same
throughout the paradigm, i.e. all the word forms of one and the same
word are lexical identical while the grammatical meaning varies from
one form to another (give-gave-given-giving-gives;
worker-workers-worker’s-workers’).

Besides the grammatical forms of the words (or
word forms), words possess lexical varieties called variants of words
(a word – a polisemantic word in one of its meanings in which it is
used in speech is described as a lexical-semantic variants. The term
was introduced by A.I. Smernitskiy; e.g. “to learn at school” –
“to learn about smth”; man – мужчина/человек).
Words may have phonetic, graphic and morphological variants:

often – [Þfən]/[
Þftən] – phonetic
variants

birdy/birdie –
graphic variants

phonetic/phonetical – morphological
variants

Thus, within the language system the word exists as a system and
unity of all its forms and variants. The term lexeme may
serve to express the idea of the word as a system of its forms and
variants.

Every word names a given referent and another one and this
relationship creates the basis for establishing understanding in
verbal intercourse (общение). But because
words mirror concepts through our perception of the world there’s
no singleness in word-thing correlations.

As reality becomes more complicated, it calls for
more sophisticated means of nomination. In recent times Lexicology
has developed a more psycho-linguistic and ethno-cultural orientation
aimed at looking into the actual reality of how lexical items work.

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In determining the basic units of the language, most of the leading specialists in the field of psycholinguistics rely on the theoretical concept of “unit analysis”, developed by L.S. Vygotsky (42, 45). Under the unit of a particular system LS Vygotsky understood “such a product of analysis that possesses all the basic properties inherent in the whole, and which is further indecomposable living parts of this unity” (45, p. 15).

The main units of language distinguished in linguistics and psycholinguistics include: phoneme, morpheme, word, sentence and text . [87]

A phoneme is a sound of speech, appearing in its sense-distinguishing function, which allows to distinguish one word (as a stable sound complex and, accordingly, a material carrier of meaning) from other words [103 and others]. The sense of distinguishing (phoneme) function of speech sounds is manifested only when a sound is in the composition of a word, and only in a certain, so-called. “Strong” (or “phoneme”) position. For all vowel sounds, such is the position in the stressed syllable; for individual vowels (vowels a, s) — also in the first pre-stressed syllable. For consonants, a common “strong position” is the position before a vowel in straight syllables; position in front of the same type consonant (ringing before ringing, soft — before soft, etc.); for sonor and deaf sounds, another “phonemic” position is the final position in the word.

The semantic distinctive function of phonemes is most vividly manifested in monosyllabic paronyms with a single sound (phoneme), for example: onion — suk — juice — sleep , etc. However, in all cases phonemes (no matter how many may be in a word and in any way) combinations they did not speak) always perform in the composition of the word its main function. It consists of the following: the correct pronunciation of sound-phonemes in the external phase of the realization of speech activity ensures the possibility of its full-fledged perception to the listeners and, accordingly, an adequate transfer of mental content. At the same time, the phoneme itself is neither a semantic nor a meaning-forming unit. Once again I would like to draw the attention of practicing speech therapists to the fact that the main task of the work on the formation of a correct sound pronunciation is the development of skills for the correct production of native language phonemes as part of a word. Proper pronunciation of phonemes is a prerequisite for the full realization of the communicative function of speech.

A morpheme is a combination of sounds (phonemes) that has a certain, so-called. «Grammatical» meaning. [88] This “meaning” of the morpheme also appears only in the composition of the word, and it received such a name because it is inextricably linked with the basic grammatical functions of morphemes. In linguistics, morphemes are classified differently. So, according to the place in the “linear structure of the word”, prefixes (prefixes) and postfixes are allocated (as morphemes preceding and following the root morpheme); suffixes and inflections (endings) are distinguished from the number of postfixes ; the root morpheme itself has been named for its sense-forming (in this case, “lexical-forming”) function. Morphemes that form the basis of a word are called affixes; «Grammatical opposition» they are inflections.

Morphemes perform in the language (when used in speech activity) a number of important functions:

• with the help of morphemes in the language processes of inflection (changes of words according to grammatical forms) are carried out. Basically, this function is performed by flexions, and, in some cases, suffixes and prefixes;

• with the help of morphemes word formation processes take place in the language. The morpheme method of word formation (suffixal, suffixal prefixal, etc.) is the main way to form new words in developed languages ​​of the world, since the homonymous method of word formation has a rather limited scope in the language system;

• using morphemes, word links are formed in phrases (grammatical function of inflections, as well as suffixes);

• Finally, a certain combination of morphemes creates the main lexical meaning of a word, which is a sort of “summation” of the grammatical meaning of the morphemes included in this word. [89]

Based on these most important linguistic functions of morphemes, and also on the fact that, by their diversity and quantitative composition, morphemes form a fairly extensive layer of language, the following methodical conclusion can be made with regard to the theory and methodology of correctional “speech” work: mastering his morphological structure. It is not by chance that in the best methodical systems of domestic specialists in the field of preschool and school speech therapy, much attention is paid to the formation of language knowledge, ideas and generalizations in students related to mastering the system of morphemes of the native language, as well as the formation of appropriate language operations with these units of language (TB). Filicheva and G.V. Chirkina, 1990, 1998; R.I. Lalayeva and N.V. Serebryakova, 2002, 2003; L.F. Spirova, 1980; S.N. Shakhovskaya, 1971; G.V. Babina , 2005 and others).

The main and universal language unit is the word. This unit of language can be defined both as a stable sound complex with meaning, and as a “fixed”, “closed” combination of morphemes. The word as a unit of language [90] appears in several of its qualities or manifestations. The main ones are as follows.

The word as a unit of language is a lexical unit (lexeme) with a certain number of meanings. This can be represented as a «mathematical» expression:

Lex. units = 1 + n (values), for example, for Russian, this numerical formula looks like 1 + n (2–3). [91]

The word includes at least two components: on the one hand, it denotes an object, replacing it, highlighting essential features in it, and on the other, it analyzes the object, introduces it into a system of connections, into the appropriate category of objects on the basis of generalizing its content. Such a structure of the word suggests the complexity of the nomination process (naming the subject). For this, two basic conditions are necessary: ​​1) the presence of a clear differentiated image of the subject, 2) the presence of a word’s lexical meaning.

The word as a unit of language also appears as a grammatical unit. This is manifested in the fact that each word-lexeme belongs to a certain grammatical category of words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals, etc.). Referring to a particular grammatical class, the word has a set of specific grammatical features (or, as is customarily defined in linguistics, — categories). For example, in nouns, these are categories of gender, number, case (declension), in verbs, categories of type and tense, etc. Different grammatical forms of words (word forms) correspond to these categories. The word forms “formed” by morphemes provide the broadest possibilities of different combinability of words in the construction of speech statements, they are also used to transmit various semantic (attributive, spatial, qualitative, etc.) connections and relations in speech.

Finally, a word as a language unit acts as a “building” element of syntax, since syntactic units (a phrase, sentence, text) are formed from words, on the basis of one or another variant of their combined use. The “syntactically generating” function of a word is manifested in the corresponding function of a word in the “context” of a sentence, when it functions as a subject, predicate, add-on, or circumstance.

These functions of the word as the main and universal unit of the language should be the subject of analysis for students in both remedial and general developmental classes.

A sentence is a combination of words that conveys (expressing) a thought in its final form. Distinctive features of the sentence are semantic and intonational completeness, as well as structure (the presence of grammatical structure). In linguistics, the sentence is among the “strictly normative” linguistic units: any deviations from the linguistic norms of the sentence construction associated with non-observance of its above basic properties are considered from the point of view of “practical grammar” as an error or (using the terminology of speech therapy) as “agrammatism” (140, 271, etc.). This is especially relevant for the written form of the implementation of speech activity, although for oral speech, agrammatism (especially “structural” or “syntactic”) is a negative phenomenon.

A sentence, just like a word, is defined in psycholinguistics as the basic and universal unit of a language (133, 150, 236, etc.). If a word is a universal means of displaying in the human mind objects of surrounding reality, their properties and qualities, then the sentence acts as the main means of displaying the object of speech-thinking activity — thought and at the same time as the main (along with the text) means of communication.

The unit of realization of speech activity (in speech psychology is a unit of speech) is a speech statement. In a typical (linguistic) version of the implementation of the RD, the speech statement is “embodied” in the form of a sentence. Based on this, a completely legitimate and methodologically justified from a psycholinguistic point of view is the allocation of academic work “on the word” and “on the sentence” into separate, independent sections of “speech work”.

The text is defined in linguistics as a macrounit language. The text is a combination of several sentences in a relatively expanded form revealing a particular topic1. In contrast to the sentence, the subject of speech (a fragment of the surrounding reality) is displayed in the text not from any one of its sides, not on the basis of any one of its properties or qualities, but “globally”, taking into account its main distinguishing features. If the subject of speech is a phenomenon or event, then it is typically displayed in the text, taking into account the main cause-and-effect (as well as temporal, spatial) relationships and relations (9, 69, 81, etc.).

The distinctive features of the text [92] as units of language are: thematic unity, semantic and structural unity, compositional construction and grammatical connectivity. The text (as a language “form of expression” of the expanded utterance) is “extended” by the main distinguishing features of the latter: compliance with the semantic and grammatical relationship between speech message fragments (paragraphs and semantic-syntactic units), the logical sequence of displaying the main properties of the subject of speech, logical-semantic organization messages. In the syntactic organization of the expanded speech utterance, various means of interphrase communication play a large role (lexical and synonymic repetition, pronouns, words with an adverbial meaning, etc.).

Thus, the text (in the “semantic plan”) is an unfolded voice message transmitted by the language. With it, the subject of speech (phenomenon, event) is displayed in speech activity in the most complete and complete form. In global speech communication in human society, the text as a macrounit of language plays a decisive role; it is he who serves as the main means of “fixing” information (regardless of its volume and even on the conditions of speech communication) and the transfer of information from one RD entity to another. In view of the above, the definition of a text as well as the basic and universal language unit is quite reasonable.

According to another linguistic classification, all language structures that have a meaning are referred to as language units : morphemes, words, phrases, sentences (phrases), and texts as expanded coherent utterances.

Structures that have no meaning, but only significance (that is, a specific role in establishing the structure of language units: sounds (phonemes), letters (graphemes), expressive movements (kinema) in kinetic speech are defined as elements of the language (166, 197, etc. .). [93]

The basic units of a language form in its general system the corresponding subsystems or levels, [94] of which the so-called level or “vertical” structure of the language system is formed (23, 58, 197, etc.). It is presented in the diagram below.

The given scheme of the level (“vertical”) structure of the language reflects its “hierarchical” structural organization, as well as the sequence, stages of “speech work” on the formation of language representations and generalizations in a child or teenager. (It should be noted that this sequence does not have a strictly “linear” character; in particular, the assimilation of the language system does not imply an option in which the assimilation of each subsequent (“superior”) language subsystem occurs only after the previous one has been mastered) . The assimilation of different components of the language during certain periods of “speech ontogenesis” can take place simultaneously, the formation of “superior” structures of the language can begin even before the “basic” structures are fully formed, etc. At the same time, the overall “priority” of the formation of the main subsystems language, of course, is maintained in the ontogeny of speech, and the same general sequence in the work on the various components (subsystems) of the language should be observed in the structure of «speech work» in mastering the language system. This is due to the «structural» hierarchy «of linguistic units, the fact that each unit of a higher level is created, formed on the basis of a certain combination of units of a lower level, as the higher level itself is created by lower (or» basic «) levels.

The linguistic “knowledge” and representations formed in the study of linguistic units of the “basic” levels of the language form the basis and prerequisite for mastering linguistic ideas about other more complex subsystems of the language (in particular, categorically grammatical and syntactic sublevels). From the analysis of the above scheme, a methodical conclusion follows: A full mastery of the language is possible only on the basis of a complete and lasting mastery of “language knowledge” applicable to all its structural components, based on the formation of the corresponding language operations with the basic units of the language. This is of fundamental importance in terms of continuity in the work of correctional teachers (primarily speech therapists) in pre-school and school educational institutions.