Вопрос 16.

1. The concept of word.

The smallest unit which we would expect to possess individual meaning is the word. Defined loosely, the word is ‘the smallest unit of language that can be used by itself’. For our present purposes, we can define the written word with more precision as any sequence of letters with an orthographic space on either side.

Many of us think of the word as the basic meaningful element in a language. This is not strictly accurate. Meaning can be carried by units smaller than the word. More often, however, it is carried by units much more complex than the single word and by various structures and linguistic devices.

If you consider a word such as rebuild, you will note that there are two distinct elements of meaning in it: re- and -build, i.e. ‘to build again’. The same applies to disbelieve which may be paraphrased as ‘not to believe’. Elements of meaning which are represented by several orthographic words in one language, say English, may be represented by one orthographic word in another, and vice versa. This suggests that there is no one-to-one correspondence between orthographic words and elements of meaning within or across languages.

2. Evoked meaning.

Evoked meaning arises from dialect and register variation. A dialect is a variety of language which has currency within a specific com­munity or group of speakers. It may be classified on one of the following bases:

• Geographical (e.g. American as opposed to British English: the difference between lift and elevator; pants and trousers);

• Temporal (e.g. words and structures used by members of different age groups within a community, or words used at different periods in the history of a language: verily and really);

• Social (words and structures used by members of different social classes: scent and perfume, napkin and serviette).