The English word as a structure.

Lexicology is connected with other branches of linguistics because it deals with word as the main unit of language and, as we know, word is studied not only in Lexicology, but in Phonetics, Stylistics, Grammar, though it is studied from a different angle in different branches of linguistics.

The basic unit forming the bulk of vocabulary is the word. Words are the central elements of the language system. They face both ways: they are the biggest units of Morphology and the smallest ones of Syntax. They embody the main structural properties and functions of the language.

Words can be separated in utterance by other such units and can be used in isolation. They are thought of as representing integer concept, feeling or action or as having a single referent.

Word is a basic unit of language, which uniting meaning and form, is composed of one or two morphemes. Though morphemes are meaningful units, they cannot be used independently, they are always parts of words, whereas words can be used as a complete utterance. Words are syntactically connected when they are used in sentences together with other words. A word has many different aspects: sound form, morphological structure, different syntactic functions.

There are a lot of definitions of ‘word’ made by different scholars. A. Sweet defined a word as “the minimum sentence”, L. Bloomfield as “a minimum free form”, E. Sapir as “one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated meaning, into which the sentence resolves itself”, John Lyon as “the unit, which is internally stable, but positionally mobile” e.g. The boy walks slowly. The boy slowly walks. Slowly walks the boy. We can make a conclusion, 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 interruptability and semantic integrity. It is the fundamental unit of language, a dialectal unity of form and content.

The relation of word, concept and thing (or the relation of symbol, reference and referent; or the relation of name, meaning and referent) form a semantic triangle.

concept reference

Sign thing symbol referent

Sign is two-faced unit comprising form (phonetic and orthographic) and may be called symbol.

Reference is more linguistic than concept (linguistic meaning is connected with the referent).

meaning

name referent

The third triangle illustrates that the form of the linguistic sign, its meaning and what it refers to are relevant for linguistics.

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