The present question presupposes the transition to another level of language, namely to the word level of English. To start with, it is necessary to define the very notion of the word as such and consider it in its numerous aspects. However, it is not an easy task as far as with the development of linguistics, numerous schools have developed their definitions of the word, and they have substantial differences. The task of this passage is to define the word in its orthographical and grammatical senses and compare them to the notion of lexeme based on specific examples, including such lexical units as the United Kingdom, six o’clock, ouch, lip balm and non-contributory.
First of all, the definition of the orthographic word should come first as far as orthography is an initial stage of language learning and its influences such other skills as listening, speaking, etc. So, “An orthographic word is a written sequence which has a white space at each end but no white space in the middle.” In other words, it can be stated that words are meaningful combinations of letters that present single units of language. Further on, the exceptions from these definitions are various compound words in English. They have no stable rules as for their spelling and can be either written separately and become two orthographic words as such, with a hyphen or as a single word with two or more root morphemes.
Drawing from these definitions, the words offered for the analysis can be considered as follows. The United Kingdom is not a word in the orthographic sense. It is a word combination as far as in spelling it is comprised of two single words separated by the white space. The orthographic words in this word combination, according to the accepted definition of the orthographic word, will be United and Kingdom. Further on, if six o’clock is taken into consideration, it can not be called an orthographic word either. The reasons for this statement are almost similar. The spelling of the lexical unit presented is not as required by the definition of the word. Words in this word combination are separated by the white space, which automatically turns them into a word combination or a nominal phrase depending on the context they are used in. Similarly, lip balm is not a word in its orthographical sense because its parts are separated by white space. Thus, this unit can be treated only as a word combination from the orthographic point of view.
However, ouch is definitely a word, at least in the orthographic meaning. The spelling of the word conforms to the demanded features of the above-presented definition. There are no white spaces between the elements of the word, and it presents unity in its spelling form. The same is the case with non-contributory, which is also a word in its orthographic sense. There are no white spaces between the elements of this lexical unit, and it is an orthographic unity. Moreover, it is an example of a compound word that could be interpreted differently in case if the spelling was varied. For instance, with the elimination of the hyphen from between the words non and contributory, the number of orthographical words would increase to two, while the joint spelling of the two elements, non-contributory, will be considered as a single word also. Despite the fact that non is not used as a separate word at a lexical level, in orthography, it is not the semantics that matter but the spelling of the unit.
What’s more, if grammatical grounds are considered, the discussed words are such according to the definition stating that “A grammatical word-form is one of the several forms that may be assumed by a lexical item for grammatical purposes.” Drawing from this, the United Kingdom can be viewed as a word as it fulfils a single function in a sentence (subject, object, part of a compound nominal predicate, etc.) and has a meaning of its own which would be different if words are used separately. However, six o’clock is not a word in its grammatical sense as far as its parts can fulfil grammatical functions of their own. Only the fact that it is a set expression can be considered a word while functioning as a single subject or adverbial modifier in a sentence. The same can be said about lip balm, which is simultaneously a word by its meaning in this collocation and a combination of separate words able to function apart from each other. Nevertheless, ouch and non-contributory are definitely words as their orthographic form and grammatical features evidence. Ouch is an interjection to express emotions, while non-contributory is a compound functioning as a single word in all senses, including the grammatical one.
Furthermore, if the lexical aspect of the words given is considered, it is necessary to provide a definition of a lexeme first. Lexeme “is an abstract unit of the lexicon of a language, with a more or less readily identifiable meaning or function.” Basically, it is the dictionary form of the word which comprises numerous semes, or meanings, of this word into a lexical unity. The meanings of a lexeme and its forms are realised in certain contexts. Thus, among the lexical units given, only ouch and non-contributory are lexemes as they are given in a dictionary in this form. The United Kingdom, six o’clock and lip balm are combinations of lexemes realising one of their meanings in the given collocations and word combinations.
Finally, considering structural aspects of the words the United Kingdom, six o’clock, ouch, lip balm, and non-contributory, their word structure can be defined. Analysing the word combination United Kingdom on the morphological level, its two constituents should be taken separately. Taking into account word-formation rules, it can be stated that the word United consist of two separate morphemes: a free morpheme unite and a derivational bound morpheme –ed, at this unite, is also a root morpheme. The word Kingdom consists of a free root morpheme king and a synthetic, fusional affix which is capable of enciphering several meanings dom possessing the meaning of house. The components of the word combination six o’clock can be analysed in the following way: six is a free root morpheme that can function as a separate word; the word o’clock consists of a free root morpheme clock and an inflectional morpheme, namely prefix, o-. As far as the word ouch is concerned, it is a free root morpheme. In the word combination lip balm, both the components can be defined as free root morphemes capable of functioning as separate words. In the word non-contributory, contribut– is a base morpheme to which a derivational bound morpheme –ry and negative prefix non-, a bound morpheme, are added; -o-, in this case, is epenthetic.