 While music and language are alike in that they both have a semantic function, the analogy does not cut any deeper, according to Langer. She distinguishes between discursive and presentational symbol systems. Discursive symbolisms possess a vocabulary composed of identifiable elements, to which a fixed meaning is associated. Presentational symbolisms lack such discrete meaningful units. Language is an example of the former, painting of the latter—both a sentence and a painting symbolize something, but the sentence may be broken down into component parts with a fixed meaning, whereas the painting cannot.