Linguistics & Language · Morphology & Syntax
A topic within Morphology & Syntax, itself one of 10 topics in that field and part of Linguistics & Language.
2 works
István Kenesei
Surveys word-class systems from Dionysius Thrax onward and argues that word classes are not a fixed universal inventory but comfortable generalisations that dissolve into clusters of distinguishing properties once tested against a wide range of languages.
Otto Jespersen
Argues that grammatical categories like noun or subject should be defined by their function in a sentence rather than by fixed formal criteria, and that the traditional parts of speech do not hold across languages as cleanly as grammarians assumed.
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