Linguistic Unit (Noun)
Meaning
One of the natural units into which linguistic messages can be analyzed.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- A phoneme can be considered a basic linguistic unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another.
- In spoken language, a syllable is a fundamental linguistic unit that represents a unit of pronunciation.
- Morphemes can serve as the smallest linguistic unit in a language, carrying meaning on their own or combining to create more complex words.
- Idioms can be classified as colloquial linguistic units that provide an idiomatic expression representing an idea separate from its individual parts.
- Chaining linguistic units together creates meaningful sentences and phrases.