Lekton

Lekton is a term primarily used in linguistics and philosophy of language to refer to a distinct unit of meaning or sense. It is often contrasted with "lexeme," which refers to the abstract unit of vocabulary, the smallest meaningful unit of a language. A lekton, therefore, can be understood as the "sense" that a particular lexeme or expression conveys. It is a conceptual entity rather than a concrete linguistic form.

The concept of lekton has roots in ancient Greek philosophy, notably in the work of Stoic logicians. They explored the nature of meaning and how words relate to concepts. In modern linguistics, the term gained prominence through the work of figures like Gottlob Frege and later influenced the development of theories of meaning, particularly within the realm of formal semantics.

Lektons are considered to be abstract objects that exist independently of any particular language. While a word in English might have a specific lekton, the same lekton can potentially be expressed by words in other languages. This distinction helps in analyzing cross-linguistic meaning and understanding semantic equivalence. The study of lektons is crucial for developing precise theories of how language conveys meaning and how different linguistic expressions can refer to the same underlying concept or idea.