A word is a sound or set of sounds associated with a certain meaning. The graphic representation of these sounds is also called a word. However, despite this provisional definition, it should be noted that the criterion for defining a word has been widely debated from a linguistic point of view. It can be pointed out that in addition to the initial and final pauses that usually accompany a certain term, it is also important to take into account the syntax, insofar as a word will always fulfill a certain function within the sentence, depending on the class to be used. the one that belongs.
In terms of graphic representation, the word is made up of letters, which together form the syllables, which in turn, form the entire word. As for the word as a graphic representation, each of these syllables in the graphic, here is called a "phoneme" inasmuch as the speech apparatus or voice is needed to be able to pronounce and express them. In this sense, the word is an essential part of the linguistic content, which could be linked as follows:
Letter> syllable> word> sentence> paragraph> text
The minimum unit is the letter, while the largest set is the text.
The different classes of existing words are: nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns, verbs, verboids, connectors, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions. Each of these has a certain number of syntactic functions. It should be noted that subdivisions may be established between some of these classes. Thus, for example, adjectives are subdivided into qualifiers and determinatives (possessive, demonstrative, numeral, indefinite, interrogative, exclamatory and relative). Or the nouns that are divided into common, proper, collective, singular, among others; besides being classified also according to gender (feminine / masculine) and number (plural / singular).
A word can also be distinguished by having an accent. Words that have an explicit accent are called tonic, since they carry the written accent. Those that have an accent, but are not written, are called "unstressed" or also with a prosodic accent. In a large number of languages, such as Spanish, the syllable on which the accent falls can vary depending on the word. In these cases, the words are classified as follows: sharp, which are characterized by having an accent that falls on the last syllable (as long as it ends in "n", "s", or vowel); serious, which are characterized by having an accent that falls on the penultimate syllable (as long as it ends in a consonant, other than "n" or "s"); esdrújulas, which are characterized by having an accent that falls on the penultimate syllable; overdrives, which are characterized by having an accent that falls on the syllable before the penultimate.
Words can also be classified by their number of syllables. So when they have a single syllable they are called monosyllables, when they have two they are called bisyllables, when they have three they are called trisyllables and when they have four they are called four-syllable. When they have more than four, they are called polysyllables.
In a semiotic aspect, the word is called "statement" and the depth of study of each statement is greater. Semiotics, the discipline that studies linguistic "signs" in the context of social life and human interpretation. Thus, each statement has a meaning and a signifier. The meaning is what formally composes the word, while the signifier is the mental image that that word produces when we pronounce it or listen to it.
So, at the level of meaning, we can mention that there are instruments or tools that collect all the existing words, or at least officially recognized in a language, such as Spanish, and they are dictionaries. In the case of Spanish, the Royal Spanish Academy is in charge of studying, incorporating and making official terms that they consider frequently used and necessary to incorporate in the encyclopedias of the Spanish language.
At present, linguistics continues to try new descriptions of what constitutes a word and its functions, in order to reach more satisfactory theoretical explanations than the existing ones.
