Talk:lexeme


 * I think this page really needs either more detail or an example. 'Unit' seems fairly vaugue and unclear. If I understood the definition of the word I would add one myself... but I suppose if I could understand it then there wouldn't be a problem.
 * Ran is not a variation of run in the linguistic sense; it is a separate word that has been memorized with its own specific meaning. If the concept of someone running in the past was a direct variation of run then it would be spelled runned, not ran. Ran is an irregular past tense verb and should not be used as an example being that it is its own lexeme.

Contradictory information
Part of the page reads:

"lexeme ‎(plural lexemes)

"(linguistics) Roughly, the set of inflected forms taken by a single word, such as the lexeme RUN including as members "run" (lemma), "running" (inflected form), or "ran", and excluding "runner" (derived term)."

But that is soon followed by this:

"Usage notes[edit] "Ran, run, runs and running are variations of the English lexeme run; whereas runner and runners aren’t: they are forms of the lexeme runner."

It is easy to see that the definition "the set of inflected forms taken by a single word" and the statement "Ran, run, runs and running are variations of the English lexeme run" contradict each other. Or at the very least, are extremely confusing together: Is a lexeme a set of inflected forms? Or is it just one word that is the basis for its inflected forms?

I hope someone knowledgeable about the subject can fix this serious problem.Daqu (talk) 17:00, 26 November 2015 (UTC)


 * The lexeme is run (or to run), and the forms of the lexeme are run (I run, you run, etc.), runs, ran, and running. —Stephen (Talk) 18:01, 26 November 2015 (UTC)