What’s a word?
Have you ever thought about it? It’s a pairing between a form (sound) and a meaning (they’re memorised). A rose doesn’t exactly smell sweet or feel thorny, but we evoke that idea. It’s useful when considering Human Nature but also Natural Language Processing.
How Else Can You Break Language Down?
Words:
Explained above
Sounds:
Break it into Phonemes.
Meaningful Sub-components:
Meaningful (in the literal sense) sub-components of words (Morphemes)
Syntax:
The rules of a language - explained here.
Learning Language:
- Learning language occurs in bursts. Children between 3-8 hear a word once and can instantly go on using it.