Ruminations.

4thKingdom | Philosophy & Quotations Board | Join Free

Posted by Kazper at 2:15pm Jan 9 '09
You must sign in to send Kazper a message

An affix is an indivisible term that represents a unit of meaning that is an incomplete description of a concept. It is made up of a combination of phonemes or graphemes. Its shape conveysnot part of the meaning it represents. It is an unfree term.
A morpheme is an indivisible term that represents a unit of meaning that is a complete description of a concept. It is made up of a combination of phonemes or graphemes. Its shape conveysnot part of the meaning it represents. It is a free term.
A word is a divisible term that represents a unit of meaning that is a complete description of a concept. It is made up of a combination of affixes and free terms. its shape conveys part of the meaning it represents. It is a free term.
A compound is a divisible term that represents a unit of meaning that is a complete description of a concept. It is made up of a combination of free terms. Its shape conveys part of the meaning it represents. It is a free term.
A [[periphrastic]] (simple or complex) is a term that is a unit of meaning that is a complete description of a concept. It is made up of a combination of free terms. Its shape conveys all of the meaning it represents. It is a free term. (This is basically a phrase consisting of at least a relativized head as phrase head and a relative clause as phrase tail with at least one narrower. Example: First among council. This is a phrase but a word can be a phrase too, you know what I'm saying... Anyway.)

Meaning = description of concept

An incomplete description is one that is intendednot to stand alone, as in it has a variable to be filled. It may still fail to fully distinguish its concept from another.
A complete description is one that is intended to stand alone, as in it has not a variable to be filled. It may still fail to fully distinguish its concept from another.

The shape of a word cannot convey all of the meaning it represents because all words contain at least one affix and one morpheme whose shapes conveynot part of the meaning they represent.

A free term can represent a meaning that is a simple or complex phrase. (Sentences are different and I'm tryin' to figure that out.)

~Shawn Savoie~
~Ottawa, Ontario, Canada~

Note that there are no ads here. Just intelligent and friendly conversation. We keep the spam out, the trolls out, the advertisers out... 4K is just a low-key, old-fashioned site with members from around the world.
This community began in 1998, and we continue to accept new members today.

If you're looking for a richer experience than Facebook or Twitter, this is it.

Debate & News Extreme Help & Advice Lifestyle Media & Arts Special Interest