MorfologĂa
What is a word?
Words: some background concepts ď Ž One of the most fundamental units of
linguistic structure is the word ď Ž Within the field of morphology it is
possible to pose many question about the nature of words.
Some basic concepts of Morpholgy How are words formed? How are more complex words built up from
simpler parts?
What are the basic building blocks in the
formation of complex words?
How is the meaning of a complex word
related to the meaning of its parts?
What is a word? There are some distinctions that need to be made in order to interpret the term “ word” in any particular context. For example: Written and Spoken words Written languages have word boundaries by means of
the ortographic space between words. In speech there are no “spaces” between words, and we
run words together when we speak.
What is a word? Count the words in the
following sentence: You can’t tie a bow with the
rope in the bow of a boat
Compound words The question of word boundaries in writing
arise in regard to compound words. Compound words are words that form a unit
made up of two or more single words. Example: Time + keeper, time + lag
Compound words: What is the appropiate way of writing this combination?
Time-lag?
Time+ lag Time-lag?
Timelag?
Compound words ď Ž In the course of their acceptance into
the language as single words, many compound words undergo a development from being written as two words, through being hyphenated, to being written as a single word.
What is a word? There are several linguistic levels to
decide on word boundaries in languages. Phonological Morphological Semantical Syntactical
Reference: ď Ž Jackson, H. (1991). Words and their
meaning.U.K.: Longman.