This volume inscribes itself in the long-standing debate on the question of the status of the word. Considering the multi-faceted nature of the word, the authors are aware that no answer to the question might be exhaustive, yet they realize that each answer brings us closer to a fuller understanding of the issue. The eleven authors included here address the nature of the word from a number of perspectives, such as the duality of the word; the status of the word as a meaningful unit; the meaning extension; the lexico-grammar continuum; and the pragmatic functioning of the word, to name but a...

The present volume focuses on a special topic-on the one hand, found at all levels of language organization and presumably present in language since its origin. On the other hand, this issue-extension-has only relatively recently become the subject of serious study and, as such, is still a largely unexplored, fresh, and exciting object of linguistic pursuit. Equipped with multiple linguistic tools, the contributors investigate, among others, such facets of extension as its regularities, directions, and possible limits, and methodologies that can best account for it. By doing so, they provide...