A Structure and Meaning Based Classification of Lexical Categoriesa
Doris Aaronson, Steven Ferres · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 1984
A hierarchical organization for lexical categories is proposed based on the relative contribution of words to the structure and meaning of text. Function words primarily signal the sentential structure while content words primarily convey its meaning. But within these traditional categories, further divisions can be made that have psycholinguistic importance. For example, within the content words, verbs emphasize structure more than nouns do, and within the function words, pronouns emphasize meaning more than prepositions do. The hierarchical organization is supported by subjective ratings of sentences and by distributional analyses of printed text. Further, the time spent reading the various categories depends on the performance demands. Structural information is more important when reading for retention than for comprehension of gist. But meaning is more important for comprehension than for retention tasks.