Short answers, pulled from the story.
Leonard Bloomfield defined the word as the smallest meaningful unit of speech that can stand by itself. This concept is known as the Minimal Free Form and was intended to be a universal key to language.
The word ungodliness is constructed from four distinct morphemes. These morphemes are the prefix un-, the root god, the suffix -li-, and the suffix -ness.
The Finnish compound word paa is phonologically two words because it violates the language's strict vowel harmony rules. This violation splits the concept into head and city.
The ancient Greek grammarians Dionysius Thrax, Apollonius Dyscolus, and Priscian established a framework of eight categories. This system has been challenged by the diversity of human language.
Plato analyzed the connection between sound and meaning in words since the 5th century BC. He concluded that words change over time and that their origins are often obscure.