Are there words that have no meanings?

Question

"Word" means "a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence and typically shown with a space on either side when written or printed."

But according to https://www.britannica.com/topic/meaning some expressions have meanings but no referents (“the present king of France”) or referents but no meanings (“that”).

I don't understand. By definition, words should have meanings. But Why does it say there are words that have no meanings?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, words themselves are meaningless -- that is, they have no intrinsic meaning.¹ However, they refer to things that do -- the ideas and concepts in our minds.² Which is to say that words are meaningful inasmuch as they describe the ideas we are trying to communicate.

For example, you have your idea of number 2 and I have my own, though very similar, idea of that same thing. And at some point we both have learned an English word referring to those ideas -- "two". So, when you say "two apples", I combine (in my mind) my idea of number 2 and my idea of an apple, and this way I understand what you are talking about.

¹ That why it's impossible to define language with language without creating circular references -- every dictionary has them.

² In this sense, words and language are not unlike another confusing concept -- money. It too has no intrinsic value. However, money is a record of something that has (it’s is IOU — at least it should be).

Answer 2

Yes, words, by definition, have meanings. But some expressions may have no meanings, even though they are considered words. This is because the definition of "word" is broader than the definition of "meaning." For example...

That
It
This
Here
There
Now

These expressions all refer to something, but they do not have a specific meaning. This is because they can be used to refer to different things in different contexts.

Like expression "that" can be used to refer to a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. The expression "it" can be used to refer to a situation, a feeling, or an object etc etc

Answer 3

Words are words if they have meaning. It is a matter of definition. I can create words which have no meaning like “detrugs”. “Detrugs” is a word because it can be pronounced but has no meaning therefore it is not fit for dictionary. Whichever word which is present in dictionary must have a meaning.

Answer 4

I will go with:

1. all words in langue have a meaning
2. all words in parole have a meaning

Parole, in typical translation, means 'speech'. Saussure, on the other hand, intended for it to mean both the written and spoken language as experienced in everyday life; it is the precise utterances and use of langue.

So can we utter a word without parole? The answer simply depends on whether all utterances are composed of words, even totally meaningless utterances.

It's a definition issue whether we call gasps and moans "speech" and "words" (what if written out in a play?), and I think a true neologism/"nonce word" is closer to these than it is meaningful language (YMMV)

Answer 5

The part of the definition that says a word is meaningful is not intended to distinguish words like "dog" from words like "borogove"; it is mean to distinguish the level of words from the level of syllables and lower divisions. In writing we have sentences which are made of phrases which are made of words which are made of syllables which are made of letters which are made of strokes. The point of the definition is that there are smaller divisions than words (syllables, letters, and strokes) but the word is the lowest level that is meaningful. Syllables have no meaning until they are combined into a word, and the same goes for strokes.

This definition may be good enough for philosophy, but not for linguistics because in linguistics they also talk about affixes which include prefixes, suffixes and infixes. For example in the word "anticommunist" the "anti" is a prefix, and it is a prefix that is meaningful. That's why in linguistics they generally use "lexeme" and "morpheme" rather than "word" when the distinction matters.

Also, there is a distinction between something being meaningful and having a meaning. "Being meaningful" just means that a morpheme has a particular use in language, a use that effects how the overall utterance is interpreted. By contrast a "meaning" is a theoretical object associated with linguistic elements and used to explain communication, how speaker and hearer come to understand each other. There are several theories of meaning. In some of these theories of meaning, some words that are meaningful do not have a meaning.