Linguistic Fundamentals and Grammar Essentials

Semantics and Linguistic Signs

Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic signs, which include words and sentences. It establishes the relationship between expression and the semantics of signs—what they actually mean.

• Polysemy: One signifier with several meanings.
• Homonymy: One signifier with several meanings; these may be homophonic or homographic.
• Synonyms: Different signifiers that share one meaning.
• False Synonyms: Different signifiers with distinct meanings.

Word Structure and Morphology

Morphology is the study of the structure of word formation.

• Simple words: Words that do not consist of two or more words.
• Compound words: Formed by more than one lexeme.
• Derivative words: Formed by one lexeme and at least one derivative morpheme.
• Parasynthetic words: Words formed through both composition and derivation.
• Morphemes: Dependent units; the minimal fragment capable of expressing meaning.
• Monemes: The smallest unit of meaning in a language, representing the first segmentation or articulation.

Grammatical Categories and Parts of Speech

Nouns and Adjectives

• Noun: A part of the sentence that can function as the nucleus of the subject.
• Adjective: Can be variable (forming feminine versions) or unchanged (no gender-specific morphemes).
• Determinants: These accompany the name and provide information. They include possessive, demonstrative, indefinite, distributive, interrogative, and exclamative types.

Verbs and Tenses

• Verb: A word formed by a lexeme, theme, and vocal inflections. It is considered the most complex grammatical category.
• Copula: Verbs such as Ser, Estar, or Parecer.
• Verb Types: Personal and impersonal, transitive and intransitive, regular and irregular, third-person (terciopersonales), defective, and copulative.
• Verb Tenses: Categorized into simple and compound tenses.

Pronouns and Phrases

• Pronouns: Includes personal, demonstrative, numeral, and interrogative types.
• The Phrase: A term used in linguistics for several purposes. Types include nominal, prepositional, verbal, adjectival, and adverbial phrases.
• Sentence (La Oración): A word or set of words expressing a complete thought. They can be simple or compound.

Syntactic Functions

• Direct Object: An argument that receives the verb's action directly. It can be identified by replacing it with lo, la, los, or las.
• Indirect Object: Designates the recipient of the action. It can be identified by replacing it with le or les.