Editing Word (section)

{{Short description|Basic element of language}}
{{about|the unit of speech and writing|the computer software|Microsoft Word|other uses}}
[[File:NZs-longest-place-name.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|Sign of a [[New Zealand]] hill with an unusually long one-word name: [[Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu|{{shy|Taumata|whakatangihanga|koauau|o|tamatea|turi|pukaka|piki|maunga|horo|nuku|pokai|whenua|ki|tana|tahu}}]] (85 [[Character (symbol)|characters]])]]
{{Linguistics}}

A '''word''' is a basic element of [[language]] that carries [[semantics|meaning]], can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible.<ref name=CDL>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=E. K. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/801681536 |title=The Cambridge dictionary of linguistics |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=J. E. Miller |isbn=978-0-521-76675-3 |location=Cambridge |oclc=801681536|page=473}}</ref> Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among [[linguistics|linguists]] on its definition and numerous attempts to find specific criteria of the concept remain controversial.<ref name=RDLL>{{Cite book |last=Bussmann |first=Hadumod |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41252822 |title=Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics |date=1998 |publisher=Routledge |others=Gregory Trauth, Kerstin Kazzazi |isbn=0-415-02225-8 |location=London |oclc=41252822 |page=1285}}</ref> Different standards have been proposed, depending on the theoretical background and descriptive context; these do not converge on a single definition.<ref name=Brown2005>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Keith |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1097103078 |title=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics: V1-14 |date=2005 |others=Keith Brown |isbn=1-322-06910-7 |edition=2nd |oclc=1097103078}}</ref>{{rp|13:618}} Some specific definitions of the term "word" are employed to convey its different meanings at different levels of description, for example based on [[phonology|phonological]], [[grammar|grammatical]] or [[orthography|orthographic]] basis. Others suggest that the concept is simply a convention used in everyday situations.<ref name=WACLT>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/57123416 |title=Word: a cross-linguistic typology |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=Robert M. W. Dixon, A. Y. Aikhenvald |isbn=0-511-06149-8 |location=Cambridge |oclc=57123416}}</ref>{{rp|6}}

The concept of "word" is distinguished from that of a [[morpheme]], which is the smallest unit of language that has a meaning, even if it cannot stand on its own.<ref name=CDL/> Words are made out of at least one morpheme. Morphemes can also be joined to create other words in a process of [[morphological derivation]].{{r|RDLL|p=768}} In English and many other languages, the morphemes that make up a word generally include at least one [[root (linguistics)|root]] (such as "rock", "god", "type", "writ", "can", "not") and possibly some [[affix]]es ("-s", "un-", "-ly", "-ness"). Words with more than one root ("[type][writ]er", "[cow][boy]s", "[tele][graph]ically") are called [[compound (linguistics)|compound words]]. [[Contraction (grammar)|Contractions]] ("can't", "would've") are words formed from multiple words made into one. In turn, words are combined to form other elements of language, such as [[phrase]]s ("a red rock", "put up with"), [[clause]]s ("I threw a rock"), and [[sentence (linguistics)|sentences]] ("I threw a rock, but missed").

In many languages, the notion of what constitutes a "word" may be learned as part of learning the writing system.<ref name=Haspelmath2011>{{Cite journal |last=Haspelmath |first=Martin |date=2011 |title=The indeterminacy of word segmentation and the nature of morphology and syntax |url=https://zenodo.org/record/225844 |journal=Folia Linguistica |volume=45 |issue=1 |doi=10.1515/flin.2011.002 |s2cid=62789916 |issn=0165-4004}}</ref> This is the case for the [[English language]], and for most languages that are written with alphabets derived from the ancient [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] or [[Greek alphabet]]s. In [[English orthography]], the letter sequences "rock", "god", "write", "with", "the", and "not" are considered to be single-morpheme words, whereas "rocks", "ungodliness", "typewriter", and "cannot" are words composed of two or more morphemes ("rock"+"s", "un"+"god"+"li"+"ness", "type"+"writ"+"er", and "can"+"not").