What is a sense?

In LinguaLinks, the word "sense" is used in two ways:

1. In discussions about data storage and management,a sense is a structural part of a lexical entry. It contains the relevant semantic, grammatical, and anthropological information for a lexical unit.

   Examples:

   "add a sense to the entry" "delete the sense"

2. In discussions about semantic analysis, a sense is the meaning of a lexical unit.

   Examples:

   "define each sense of the lexeme" "compare lexically related senses"

Context for this page:

• Concept module: sense
• In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
• In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
• In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

© 2004 SIL International