Editing Word (section)

==Classes==
{{main|Lexical category}}
Each word belongs to a category, based on shared [[grammar|grammatical]] properties. Typically, a language's lexicon may be classified into several such groups of words. The total number of categories as well as their types are not universal and vary among languages. For example, English has a group of words called [[Article (grammar)|articles]], such as ''the'' (the definite article) or ''a'' (the indefinite article), which mark definiteness or identifiability. This class is not present in Japanese, which depends on context to indicate this difference. On the other hand, Japanese has a class of words called [[Grammatical particle|particles]] which are used to mark noun phrases according to their grammatical function or thematic relation, which English marks using word order or prosody.<ref name=Akmajian2010>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/424454992 |title=Linguistics: an introduction to language and communication |date=2010 |publisher=MIT Press |others=Adrian Akmajian |isbn=978-0-262-01375-8 |edition=6th |location=Cambridge, Mass. |oclc=424454992}}</ref>{{rp|21-24}}

It is not clear if any categories other than interjection are universal parts of human language. The basic bipartite division that is ubiquitous in [[natural language]]s is that of [[noun]]s vs [[verb]]s. However, in some [[Wakashan languages|Wakashan]] and [[Salish languages]], all content words may be understood as verbal in nature. In [[Lushootseed language|Lushootseed]], a Salish language, all words with 'noun-like' meanings can be used predicatively, where they function like verb. For example, the word ''sbiaw'' can be understood as '(is a) coyote' rather than simply 'coyote'.<ref>{{Citation |last=Beck |first=David |title=Unidirectional flexibility and the noun–verb distinction in Lushootseed |date=2013-08-29 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/26032/chapter/193935978 |work=Flexible Word Classes |pages=185–220 |editor-last=Rijkhoff |editor-first=Jan |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199668441.003.0007 |isbn=978-0-19-966844-1 |access-date=2022-08-25 |editor2-last=van Lier |editor2-first=Eva}}</ref>{{r|Brown2005|p=13:631}} On the other hand, in [[Eskimo–Aleut languages]] all content words can be analyzed as nominal, with agentive nouns serving the role closest to verbs. Finally, in some [[Austronesian languages]] it is not clear whether the distinction is applicable and all words can be best described as interjections which can perform the roles of other categories.{{r|Brown2005|p=13:631}}

The current classification of words into classes is based on the work of [[Dionysius Thrax]], who, in the 1st century BC, distinguished eight categories of [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]] words: [[noun]], [[verb]], [[participle]], [[article (grammar)|article]], [[pronoun]], [[preposition]], [[adverb]], and [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunction]]. Later Latin authors, Apollonius Dyscolus and Priscian, applied his framework to their own language; since Latin has no articles, they replaced this class with [[interjection]]. [[Adjectives]] ('happy'), [[Quantifier (linguistics)|quantifiers]] ('few'), and [[Numeral (linguistics)|numerals]] ('eleven') were not made separate in those classifications due to their morphological similarity to nouns in Latin and Ancient Greek. They were recognized as distinct categories only when scholars started studying later European languages.{{r|Brown2005|p=13:629}}

In Indian grammatical tradition, [[Pāṇini]] introduced a similar fundamental classification into a nominal (nāma, suP) and a verbal (ākhyāta, tiN) class, based on the set of [[suffixes]] taken by the word. Some words can be controversial, such as [[slang]] in formal contexts; misnomers, due to them not meaning what they would imply; or [[polysemous]] words, due to the potential confusion between their various senses.<ref name=DeSoto1985>{{Cite journal |last1=De Soto |first1=Clinton B. |last2=Hamilton |first2=Margaret M. |last3=Taylor |first3=Ralph B. |date=December 1985 |title=Words, People, and Implicit Personality Theory |url=http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/soco.1985.3.4.369 |journal=Social Cognition |language=en |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=369–382 |doi=10.1521/soco.1985.3.4.369 |issn=0278-016X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>