Cherology
Encyclopedia
Cherology and chereme, sometimes chireme, (from "hand") are synonyms of phonology
and phoneme
previously used in the study of sign languages.
A chereme, as the basic unit of signed communication, is functionally and psychologically equivalent to the phonemes of oral languages, and has been replaced by that term in the academic literature. Cherology, as the study of cheremes in language, is thus equivalent to phonology.
The terms were coined in 1960 by William Stokoe
at Gallaudet University
as part of an attempt to describe sign languages as true and full languages, but that position is now universally accepted. The terminology has been widely discarded, except when the medial differences are important, since phonemes and cheremes (as well as graphemes) are perceived and processed differently in the brain.
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
and phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
previously used in the study of sign languages.
A chereme, as the basic unit of signed communication, is functionally and psychologically equivalent to the phonemes of oral languages, and has been replaced by that term in the academic literature. Cherology, as the study of cheremes in language, is thus equivalent to phonology.
The terms were coined in 1960 by William Stokoe
William Stokoe
William C. Stokoe, Jr. was a scholar who researched American Sign Language extensively while he worked at Gallaudet University. He coined the term cherology, the equivalent of phonology for sign language .Stokoe graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 1941, and in...
at Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
as part of an attempt to describe sign languages as true and full languages, but that position is now universally accepted. The terminology has been widely discarded, except when the medial differences are important, since phonemes and cheremes (as well as graphemes) are perceived and processed differently in the brain.