Research Paper on:
Semantic Features and Theories of Linguistics and Prototypes

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
a wide range of topics, the boundaries of which are frequently difficult to define. Linguistics is associated with various other science. For example, theres sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics and philosophical linguistics  (Aitchison, 1992). However, one of the core features of all of these various permutations of linguistic study is semantics, or the study of meaning within language. How linguists go about  studying semantics can vary. George Lakoff (1987) uses prototype theory to explore cognitive and semantic meaning, while others employ the study of semantic features. While these two approaches to linguistic  analysis may appear to be competing approaches to world analysis, a closer look at each of these topics demonstrates that rather than competing they should be perceived as complementary  ways of viewing the same subject. The Word The term "word" is generally used to indicate an intermediate structure that is smaller than a whole phrase, yet generally larger  than a single sound segment (Jackson and Amvela, 2000). While generally written words are separated by spaces, such separations do not always simulate functional realities (Jackson and Amvela, 2000). For  instance, "waste paper basket" is three words, but they represent one object in the real word, so, therefore, they are considered to be one semantic unit (Jackson and Amvela, 2000).  The best-known definition of a word is the one proposed by American linguist Bloomfield, who described a word as a "minimum free form" (Aitchison, 1992, p. 49). By this, Bloomfield  meant that smallest semantic form that can occur by itself. But Aitchison (1992) points out that words are very seldom used by themselves in spoken language. Therefore, it can  be seen how ambiguous common place notions such as what a "word" is can be when examined closely. Linguistic analysis explores all of the various ramifications of this ambiguity.