In the article “How we analyse meaning,” Crystal writes “the term words is used in ways that obscure the study of meaning,” “the term word is useless for the study of idioms, which are also units of meaning,” and “the word has in any case been appropriate for use everywhere in linguistic study-in the field of grammar, where it is an important concept in both syntax and morphology.”
Crystal accurately points out the essence and confusion of the term words. Crystal describes that the same word can have different meaning due to different wordings, the context where the word is under, the situation when the word is expressed and the person who is using the word. This knowledge will warm me to be cautious when using words especially in Korea culture. Korea has multiple levels of formality, thus it is extremely important to recognize when and how to use words. This knowledge will also encourage me to learn a more comprehensive way of how a word can be used differently.
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