2) Identity of the word (тождество).

1. The word is grammatically complete.

Every word is a unity of its grammatical forms. In the flow of speech the word is always grammatically shaped.

E.g. shipwreck

(in the plural form we add only one ,,-s’’ to this word)

We have shipwrecks and not (!!!) shipswrecks!!!

Every word is grammatically shaped as a lexical unit.

In the flow of speech we can come across similar sound combinations with the same meaning, which are not words.

2. The word is identical to itself.

Different speakers while using the same word of the same language can easily understand each other, because they recognize these combinations of sounds as meaningful units. Identity of the word is closely connected with its reoccurrence (повторяемость) as the unity of form and meaning and as being part of the vocabulary system of a language.

Edward Sepire defined the word in a different way: a word is a bit of isolated meaning, into which a sentence resolves itself. But this definition is not satisfactory, because:

1) he reduces a word to its meaning but a word is the unity of form and meaning;

2) we first identify a sentence and then cut it into words.

The word as an arbitrary and motivated sign

The words are arbitrary (производные). It means that there’s a conventional connection between the form and meaning of the word.

Types of motivation

Motivation is the relationship, existing between phonetic or morphological composition in the structural pattern of the word, on the one hand, and between its meaning, on the other hand.

Motivation is a highly complex phenomenon, which may work in 3 different ways. Accordingly there are 3 main types of motivation:

1. Phonetical motivation;

2. Morphological motivation;

3. Semantic motivation;

Phonetical motivation deals with certain similarity between the sounds that make up the word.

E.g. buzz- жужжание

cucoo- ку-ку } onomatopoeic words

quack- ква

Morphological motivation is the way, in which a given meaning is represented in a word.

It reflects the inner word form or the type of nomination process, chosen by the creator in the definite word. The inner form of the word is the feature, chosen as the basis of nomination to compound words.

The motivation is morphological, if the meaning of the whole word is based on the direct meanings of its components.

E.g. typewriter- пишущая машинка

type- печать, шрифт

write- писать

Semantic motivation is the way, based on the co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same synchronous system.

E.g. hand

1) a part of a human body- direct meaning;

2) the pointer of a clock- figurative (metaphorical) meaning;

3) a worker- figurative (metonymical) meaning;

E.g. eye-lid

1) that part of movable skin, that serves as a cover of the eye-ball (веко)- direct meaning;

2) a spherical part of the rocket's nozzle (хвостовая часть ракеты)- figurative meaning;

In the latter case we deal with compounds of the exocentric type. Exocentric compounds lack motivation and their lexical meaning can't be derived from the lexical meaning of its components. The semantic centre of such words is outside them and they are products of secondary nomination. But compound words, being of exocentric type, are formed with the help of semantic motivation, because the combination of their components is used figuratively.

Words may be motivated and demotivated. We don’t remember the source, from which a demotivated word was derived. We can't determine the inner form of a demotivated word.

E.g. table from the French word ,,tableau’’ (доска)