Grapheme
Grapheme
A Grapheme (/ˈɡræfiːm/; from the Greek: γράφω, gráphō, "write") is the smallest unit of a writing system of any given language.
Etymology
The term "grapheme" is derived from Greek words 'grapho' meaning 'I write' and '-eme' suggesting a minimal unit in a system of signs. It was first coined by philologist Ignace Gelb in 1931 to denote a minimal unit of writing.
Definition
An individual grapheme may or may not carry meaning by itself, and may or may not correspond to a single phoneme of the spoken language. Graphemes include alphabetic letters, typographic ligatures, Chinese characters, numerical digits, punctuation marks, and other individual symbols of writing systems.
Types of Graphemes
There are various types of graphemes, including:
- Allographs: Different letter sequences that represent the same phoneme.
- Morphographs: A morpheme represented in its morphophonemic form.
- Phonographs: A writing system where each grapheme represents a phoneme.
Related Terms
- Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
- Morpheme: The smallest meaningful unit of language.
- Allograph: Different letter sequences that represent the same phoneme.
- Morphograph: A morpheme represented in its morphophonemic form.
- Phonograph: A writing system where each grapheme represents a phoneme.
See Also
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Grapheme
- Wikipedia's article - Grapheme
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