8. Word as the main unite of the language and speech.

Word is the basic unit of language. It corresponds to the concept of thing meant and names it. (G.B. Antrushina)

The term “word” denotes the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment. (I.V. Arnold)

The word is the basic unit of language system, the largest on the morphologic and the smallest on the syntactic plane of linguistic analysis. The word is a structural and semantic entity within the language system. (R.S. Ginzburg)

It is significant that many scholars have attempted to define the word as a linguistic phenomenon. Yet none of the definitions can be considered totally satisfactory in all aspects. We do not know much about the origin of language and, consequently of the origin of words. We know nothing – or almost nothing – about the mechanism by which a speaker’s mental process is converted into sound groups called “words”, nor about the reverse process whereby a listener’s brain converts the acoustic phenomena into concepts and ideas, thus establishing a two-way process of communication.

But what we do know about the nature of the word?

Firstly, we do know that the word is a unit of speech, as such, serves the purposes of human communication. Thus, the word can be defined as a unit of communication.

Secondly, the word can be perceived as the total of the sounds which comprise it.

Thirdly, the word, viewed structurally, possesses several characteristics.

The modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the word.

By external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure. For example, in the word post-impressionists the following morphemes can be distinguished: the prefixes post-, im-, the root press, the noun-forming suffixes -ion, -ist, and the grammatical suffix of plurality -s. All these morphemes constitute the external structure of the word post-impressionists.

The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, is nowadays commonly referred to as the word's semantic structure. This is certainly the word's main aspect. Words can serve the purposes of human communication solely due to their meanings.

The area of lexicology specializing in the semantic studies of the word is called semantics.

Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possesses both external (or formal) unity and semantic unity.

The formal unity of the word can be best illustrated by comparing a word and a word-group comprising identical constituents. The difference between a blackbird and a black bird is best explained by their relationship with the grammatical system of the language. The word blackbird, which is characterised by unity, possesses a single grammatical framing: blackbird/s. The first constituent black is not subject to any grammatical changes. In the word-group a black bird each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own: the blackest birds I've ever seen. Other words can be inserted between the components which is impossible so far as the word is concerned as it would violate its unity: a black night bird.

The same example may be used to illustrate what we mean by semantic unity.

In the word-group a black bird each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept: bird — a kind of living creature; black — a colour.

The word blackbird conveys only one concept: the type of bird. This is one of the main features of any word: it always conveys one concept, no matter how many component morphemes it may have in its external structure.

A further structural feature of the word is its susceptibility to grammatical employment. In speech most words can be used in different grammatical forms in which their interrelations are realised.

D. Crystal’s dictionary of linguistics and phonetics which says that “intuitively all speakers know what is meant by a word, the can single words out in utterance, recognize them. But as a term it remains extremely vague.”

Traditionally words are defined on the basis of notional criteria. Words express certain ideas. But idea is also vague. Therefore he suggests that word should be replaced by lexical unit or lexeme.

Lexical item has different meanings.

Lexical item 1 – lexeme-a unit conventionally listed in dictionaries as a separate entry

Lexical item 2 – complex word equivalent (phrasal verbs)

Lexical item 3 – autosemantic word (not function words)

Lexical item is a broader term which brings under its title what in Russian Linguistics is described as word and complex word equivalent)

Multy-word item arе used in informal speech and their one word equivalents are found in formal speech

To sum up, the word is a speech unit used for the purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to grammatical employment and characterized by formal and semantic unity.