19. Different types of words

Word – the basic unit of language, directly corresponds to the object of thought (referent) – which is a generalized reverberation of a certain 'slice', 'piece' of objective reality – and by immediately referring to it names the thing meant.

Typology of words:

Morphologically we distinguish between:

- monomorphemic word (root word );

- polymorphemic word (derivatives, compounds, derivational compounds – q.v.).

Semantically:

3. - monosemantic word – word , having only one lexical meaning and denoting, accordingly, one concept;

4. - polysemantic word – words having several meanings, i.e. word having several meanings, thus denoting a whole set of related concepts grouped according to the national peculiarities of a given language.

Stylistically:

5. - neutral word ;

6. - elevated (bookish) word ;

7. - colloquial word (q.v.);

8. - substandard word

Etymologically:

- native word – q.v.;

- borrowed word (borrowings) – q.v.;

- hybrids – q.v.;

- international word (interonyms) – q.v.;

- dictionary word

Composition:

2. Simple words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion (in many cases the inflexion is zero), e.g. «seldom», «chairs», «longer», «asked».

3. Derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an inlexion, e.g. «deristricted», «unemployed».

4. Compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion, e.g. «baby-moons», «wait-and-see (policy)».

5. Compound-derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more affixes and an inflexion, e.g. «middle-of-the-roaders», «job-hopper».

• The orthographic word – the word understood in terms of alphabetic or syllabic writing systems: a visual sign with space around it. It may or may not have a canonical form.

• The phonological word - the word understood in terms of sound: a spoken signal that occurs more commonly as part of a longer utterance than in isolation and is subject to rhythm.

• The morphological word – the word in terms of form lies behind both the orthographic and the phonological word: big has a spelt-out realization b-i-g and a spoken realization [big], but is independent of both, because it can be epressed in either medium and also in sign language. This entity is capable of realization in different “substances”. It is distinct from such spelt-out variants as colour and color as well as from the innumerable ways in which different people may say “colo(u)r”. However, all such users have it in common and it is the basis of such further forms as colourful and discoloured.

• The lexical word (full word, content word, lexeme, lexical item) – the word in terms of content relates to things, actions, and states. It is usually realized by one or more morphological words, as when do,does, doing, did, done are taken to be five “versions” of the one verb DO. Lexical words are generally fitted into the flow of language through affixation, suppletion, stress shift, vowel change.

• The grammatical word (form word, function word, structure word, morpheme)- the word in terms of syntactic function contrasts with the lexical word and is an element in the structural system of a language. It serves in linking lexical words. Conjunctions, determiners, interjections, particles, and pronouns are grammatical words. They occur frequently and have their own semantic systems.

• The onomastic word – the words in terms of naming established special, often unique reference: the difference between Napoleon and emperor.

• The lexicographical word – the word in terms of dictionaries is usually presented in an alphabetic setting. Many dictionaries have an entry did as the past of do with cross-reference to the representative form. There are 2 kinds of entry: anything compilers think anyone might look up, and the citation forms under which definition preoceeds.

• The statistical word – the word in terms of occurrences in texts is embodied in such instructions as “Count all the words on the page”: that is, count each letter or group of letters preceded and followed by a white space.