Essential Linguistic Concepts and Grammatical Analysis

Fundamental Linguistic Concepts

The Word:

• Signifier: The set of sounds and letters of a word that we see and hear.
• Meaning: The idea or concept that the word conveys.
• Referent: The reality (object, person, etc.) to which that word refers.

Grammatical Categories

• Variable Categories: Noun, adjective, determiners, pronouns, and verb.
• Invariable Categories: Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

Lexical and Semantic Relations

• Lexical Family: A set of words that share a common lexeme and, therefore, a relationship of meaning.
• Semantic Field: A set of words that share a meaning which distinguishes them from the rest.
• Polysemy: A word that has two or more interrelated meanings.
• Synonymy: Words that are spelled differently but have the same or very similar meaning.
• Antonymy: Words that have opposite meanings.
• Homonymy: The relationship between two words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings.
• Paronymy: The relationship between words that are similar in form, but whose meanings are totally different.

Sentence Structure and Syntax

Noun Phrase: The subject and predicate of a sentence can be decomposed into smaller groups of words, called phrases, which have a syntactic function.

Constituents of the Sentence:

• Subject: Includes the nucleus, the determinant, and the complements of the subject.
• Attribute: A supplement that accompanies linking verbs and indicates qualities of the subject.
• Predicate: A verbal complement that modifies both the subject and a non-copular verb.
• Direct Object: Indicates the object or person that directly receives the action of the verb.
• Indirect Object: Indicates the person or thing that receives the benefit or harm of the verbal action.
• Prepositional Complement (C. de Régimen): A prepositional phrase required by a verb to complete its meaning.
• Agent Complement (C. Agente): A prepositional phrase in passive sentences that indicates the author of the action.
• Circumstantial Complement (C. Circunstancial): Expresses the circumstances or conditions in which the verbal action occurs.

Types of Linguistic Analysis

• Morphological Analysis: Determining the grammatical category to which each component word belongs.
• Syntactic Analysis: Indicating the function that each phrase plays in a sentence.
• Morphosyntactic Analysis: Combining both morphological and syntactic analysis.

Foreign Loans

Words borrowed from other languages:

• Necessary Loans: Used because the language lacks a specific term to refer to that reality.
• Foreignisms: Unnecessary terms used when a word for that reality already exists in the language.