Kernwort

Kernwort, German for "core word," is a linguistic term used to describe a word that carries the central semantic load of a text or sentence. It typically refers to content words—nouns, main verbs, adjectives, and some adverbs—that define the topic or the primary assertion, in contrast to function words such as articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.

The concept emphasizes salience and information content rather than mere frequency. Kernwörter can vary by genre, discourse, and perspective, and a given text may have more than one Kernwort that together express its core meaning.

Determination: In analysis, Kernwörter are identified either manually by linguists or computationally by algorithms that combine term frequency, distinctiveness (for example TF-IDF), semantic relatedness, and syntactic position (often subject or main verb). In short phrases, a single Kernwort may convey the gist; in longer documents, a small set forms the thematic backbone.

Examples: In the sentence "Der Klimawandel verändert globale Muster," Kernwörter include Klimawandel, verändert, globale Muster. In news articles about science, typical Kernwörter might be the science topic nouns and key verbs, while articles about politics emphasize institutions and actions.

Applications and relation: The Kernwort concept underpins keyword extraction, summarization, indexing, and lexical resources. It is also used in language teaching to help learners identify important vocabulary. The term is not universally standardized; many contexts prefer "Schlüsselwort" or "Kernwortschatz" for related ideas.