Words

Words

Definition

Working definition is 'minimal standalone symbolic unit'

(1) Symbolic = arbitrary relationship between form and function (as described by the linguistic Charles Sanders Pierce 1839 - 194)

(2) Standalone = make sense in isolation, e.g.

1. A: What was he doing? B: Working

2. B: How would you describe the experience? B: Unbelievable

3. Shark!!!!!!!!

4. Swim!!!!!!!!!

(3) Minimal = cannot be divided into smaller standalone units

1. Inactive -> One sip of coffee and Charles changes from in- to *hyper-active.

2. Underconfident -> ?After eight pints, Angela changes from under- to over-confident.

3. Walk out -> She walked through the door and out of my life.

4. Blackbird (species) -> She saw a black and a *white bird in the tree

This definition is not perfect, e.g. some items classified as words cannot stand alone, e.g. the dog, and some words are not purely symbolic, e.g. buzz, whisper.

Word classes

Words belong to word classes / syntactic categories

The word class determines how we put words together to make sentences

Semantic definitions - why the don't work very well

Typical examples:

A verb is a DOING word An adjective is a DESCRIBING word

But are the following adjectives or verbs?

1. The raging river tore through the valley

2. That film really sucks

These examples demonstrate that semantic/functional definitions of words fall short

3 ways to define word classes

(a) Semantics / meaning-based test, e.g. a verb is a 'doing' word.

(b) Morphological test, e.g. we can make a verb progressive by adding -ing

(c) Positional test, e.g. verbs come after subjects and before objects, e.g. she ate the fish, she likes cheese.

So which test?

The positional test is the most reliable, e.g.

1. The raging river tore through the valley: raging comes before a noun. It is an adjective

2. That film really sucks: comes after the subject film. It is a verb.

Let's meet the word classes!

Categorization of word classes

1. Content versus function words

   1. Content words = Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs. (in Speech and Language Therapy, these are sometimes called 'information-carrying words')

   2. Function words = Determiners, Prepositions

2. Open versus closed class. Open class words permit new members, while closed class words don't. NB all content words are open, and all function words are closed.

   1. Open = Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs

   2. Closed = Determiners, Prepositions.

3. What the words do in the sentence?

   1. Referring words = Nouns, Pronouns

   2. Modifying words = Adjectives and Adverbs

4. Where do they appear in the sentence?

   1. The verb complex tends to contain auxiliary verbs and adverbs in addition to the verb itself

   2. The Noun Phrase tends to contain determiners and adjectives in addition to the noun itself

   3. Prepositions are used before the Noun Phrase.

5. Super- and sub-types

   1. Types of modifying words: adjectives and adverbs

   2. Types of referring words (nominals): Nouns and Pronouns

Word classes and language impairment

Children with language impairments

• Tend to miss out function words

• Have difficulties understanding prepositions (when used to express location), e.g. on, in

• Have reduced verb diversity

• Sometimes omit arguments of the verb, e.g. 'She put the books'

5 minutes exercise

What's unusual about the following sentence: "That film was absobloodylutely brilliant!"?

A student says 'I am going to a lection'. What does 'lection' mean, and how has this error arisen?