Download or read book Papers on Language Theory and History written by J. Peter Maher and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1977-01-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interest in word-meaning is on the increase among mainstream linguists again after a half-century of neglect. During this interval progress in phonology and syntax was great, but further progress in these sub-disciplines will remain blocked until it is recognized that the prime functional unit of speech is the word, that the central problem of language theory is lexis. Word-meaning is typically complicated by changes across time; for a theory of language creativity, these effects must be discerned from spontaneous creation. The articles brought together in this volume attempt to illuminate, on the basis of particular lexical studies, the dynamics of perception and word-meaning, of language and mind.