Concept in Definition ABC

A word is the combination of two aspects or dimensions: meaning and signifier. On the other hand, when we think of any word we can do it from several perspectives. It is possible to attend to its different meanings, its sound, its etymology or to its internal structure.

Monemes are divided into lexemes and morphemes

When decomposing a word into its different parts, we find two basic units: lexemes and morphemes. The lexeme is that element that remains unchanged, while the morpheme contributes its dimension variable.

In other words, the lexeme of a word constitutes its primary root and the morpheme is its specific complement. Consequently, the lexeme part provides the lexical meaning of a term and the morpheme part provides the grammatical meaning through some of its contributions (for example, gender, number or time).

With the lexeme “niñ” we can now create words with a complete meaning, such as childhood, boy, girls or toddler. The words bookseller, bookstore or

book they share the root "libr-". On synthesis, the lexeme comes to be like the basic structure of a word. From these units we are able to create all kinds of words.

Simple, compound, derived and parasynthetic words

A simple word is one that presents a single lexeme, such as Forest, head or market. In the case of compound, these are those that require two or more lexemes for their training, as a gamekeeper, nutcracker or electromechanical. Thus, from a simple word like spider we create another composed like spider web.

From a primitive word we create new ones and these are known as derivatives

This process is carried out through the use of suffixes and prefixes (for example, with the prefixes "des" or "re" we form undo or redo). When we form derived words, the lexeme is the part of the same that is always repeated (from the root or lexeme “cas” we obtain terms such as house, house, house or houses).

Parasynthesis takes place when two aspects are handled, the combination or the derivation. Some examples of parasynthetic words are: Latin American, telecommunication, afterlife, windshield wiper, dishwasher, or bittersweet. Parasynthetic terms should not be confused with the phenomenon of shunt.

The structure of all these words is studied at the lexical level of the language and the lexemes and morphemes constitute the fundamental pieces.

Fotolia photos: ateljesv / orijinal_x

Topics in Lexema