The Secret Language of Words

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What’s in a Word?

A word is a thought, a vocal utterance, and a linguistic symbol representing the thought and utterance. Thought is a mental construct derived from a perceptual impression obtained from the physical environment. Therefore, a thought is a symbol of action in the physical universe.

A morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that represents action with semantic meaning. The word ‘action’ is used here to describe either the existence of a person or thing, an action or activity, or the ability to reach for a thing and take possession of it. 

English examples of a morpheme:

The word ‘unbreakable’ has three morphemes: ‘un-‘, ‘break’, and ‘-able’. ‘Un-‘ meaning ‘not,’ ‘break’ as in ‘split or cracked into pieces,’ and ‘-able’ meaning ‘able, liable, or fit to be ______ed, able to _______, or giving or inclined to _______.’ 

Therefore, the idea conveyed by the word ‘unbreakable’ denotes the action of not able to be split or cracked into pieces.

Here’s another example. The morpheme ‘-s’ as in cats, or ‘-es’ as in dishes both indicate plurality (more than one of something).

Classification of morphemes

Free morphemes:

“Town” can appear with other free morphemes (as in town hall) or they can stand alone. The term "root word" is synonymous (the same as or similar to) with "free morpheme".

Bound morphemes:

“Un-” appear only together with other morphemes to form a word. Bound morphemes in general tend to be prefixes and suffixes. Unproductive, non-affix morphemes that exist only in bound form are known as "cranberry" morphemes, from the "cran" in that very word.

Derivational morphemes:

Concepts that can be added to a word to create another word: the addition of "-ness" to "happy" as in to give "happiness" carries additional semantic information.

Inflectional morphemes:

These modify a word's tense, number, aspect, and so on, without deriving a new word or a word in a new grammatical category (as in the "dog" morpheme if written with the plural marker morpheme "-s" becomes "dogs"). They also carry grammatical information.

The Construction of Speech

A syllable is a unit of organization and meaning formed to be used in a combination of speech sounds to create words. Frequently, a syllable is a morpheme, which can be verified by studying the origin of words (derivations). A syllable is typically made up of a vowel and a consonant or consonants.

For example, the word water is composed of two syllables (or morphemes): wa and ter. Syllables are the phonological "building blocks" of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic meter, its stress patterns, etc. This little piece of information is extremely useful for the writers of books, advertisements, and songs.

In contrast, a word is composed of singular or multiple syllables, which in turn are types of morphemes. Some singular words can also be morphemes, specifically those classed as a free morpheme.

In writing, there is a creative process available to the artist which consists of a 3-stage process.

Step 1 consists of specifying meaning.

Step 2 consists of specifying the sounds which will represent that meaning and designating that word’s usage in the particular language it was invented.

Step 3 establish the word in the language of the culture. When we produce (or invent) a word, we are essentially turning the sense impression of an experience into a thought and expressing or communicating that thought through sounds (a process known as lexicalization).

Therefore, you should think of the action of creating words as the process of uniting units of sound with units of meaning. Similarly, you could conceive of the writer's creative process as a series of efforts to fill a reader's imagination with meaning.

All languages can be analyzed in this manner and in each case you'll find that every word in all languages are simply meanings combined with other meanings that describe objects or events in the physical universe. Think about the words you use every now and then to increase your understanding of the words you use and how you use them. All sorts of dictionaries are available to assist you in unraveling the mysteries contained in words.

For artists who use words to create works of art an extensive vocabulary, a good command of grammar, and a mastery over the meanings of words are all necessary and important accomplishments to attain.

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Related Music:

Demonic

Burn Rebellion
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Related Article:

Words in Songwriting and their Power as Emotional Triggers (Part 1)

The Human Voice: The World's First Musical Instrument
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Marc

http://stereothesis.com/



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