Pangu wrote:korn wrote:Pangu wrote:I'm sorry but whether you're simple or not doesn't say anything about whether you're right or wrong.
That is completely irrelevant. You are again confusing syllables/morphemes with "words". Also you're still trying to force Vietnamese to fit into European linguistic standards
What is your definition of "a word" by Asian standards? My EU influenced definition of "a word" is: a word is the smallest element that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content (with literal or practical meaning).
This is the Dictionary.com's definition of the word, "word":
A unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning. Words are composed of one or more morphemes and are either the smallest units susceptible of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under certain linking conditions, as with the loss of primary accent that distinguishes blackbird from black bird.
I believe it fits Asian languages very well.
My thoughts on that. Please correct me if I'm wrong:
1. The definition doesn't end there, where you cut and paste them here. The full definition is as follows:
a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning. Words are composed of one or more morphemes and are either the smallest units susceptible of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under certain linking conditions, as with the loss of primary accent that distinguishes blackbird from black bird. Words are usually separated by spaces in writing, and are distinguished phonologically, as by accent, in many languages.
So, they're usually separated by "spaces"
And when they say "usually" yet don't mentioned the exception, then it's
usually practically 100% of all time.
2. Dictionary.com seem to me oriented at Indo-European languages. Further more when you speak of "European linguistic standards", you're probably trying to say there's a "Asian linguistic standards". I'm sure there is one. But there's no general accepted Asian definition of "a word".
3. When Draven said, he thinks "gười đưa thư" is one word. then he is right. To be more precise, Vietnameses call it "từ ghép". In this case "từ ghép của 3 từ" (= a word that is consisted of three words). This goes for ""Chủ nghĩa lãng mạn" as well, I guess. So, even Vietnamese can't deny the words that's within "từ ghép" is considered words. My point is, in Vietnamese there are more of those construction (construction that has several words) than in European languages, e.g. German (e.g. the German word "Romantik" has only one word, in Vietnamese you need 4 words to express the same idea)- no matter what linguistic standard you choose to use.
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