Graphemics
Encyclopedia
Graphemics or graphematics is the linguistic study of writing system
s and their basic components, i.e. graphemes.
At the beginning of the development of this area of linguistics, Ignace Gelb
coined the term grammatology
for this discipline; later some scholars suggested to call it graphology
to match phonology
, but that name is traditionally used for a pseudo-science. Others therefore suggested to rename the study of language-dependent pronunciation phonemics or phonematics instead, but this did not gain widespread acceptance either, so the term graphemics was used.
Graphemics examines the specifics of written texts in a certain language and their correspondence to the spoken language. One major task is the descriptive analysis of implicit orthographic regularities (graphotactics) to formulate explicit rules (orthography
) that can be used in prescriptive education or in computer linguistics, e.g. for speech synthesis
.
In analogy to phoneme
and (allo
)phone
in phonology
, the graphic units of language are graphemes, i.e. language-specific character
s, and graph
s, i.e. language-specific glyph
s. Different schools of thought consider different entities to be graphemes; major points of divergence are the handling of punctuation
, diacritic marks, plurigraph
s and non-alphabet
ic script
s.
Analoguous to phonetics
, the etic
counterpart of graphemics is called graphetics
and deals with the material side only (including paleography, typography
, and graphology
).
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
s and their basic components, i.e. graphemes.
At the beginning of the development of this area of linguistics, Ignace Gelb
Ignace Gelb
Ignace Jay Gelb was a Polish-American ancient historian and Assyriologist who pioneered the scientific study of writing systems...
coined the term grammatology
Grammatology
Grammatology is a term coined by the linguist Ignace Gelb in 1952 to refer to the scientific study of writing systems or scripts. It includes the typology of scripts, the analysis of the structural properties of scripts, and the relationship between written and spoken language...
for this discipline; later some scholars suggested to call it graphology
Graphology
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
to match phonology
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...
, but that name is traditionally used for a pseudo-science. Others therefore suggested to rename the study of language-dependent pronunciation phonemics or phonematics instead, but this did not gain widespread acceptance either, so the term graphemics was used.
Graphemics examines the specifics of written texts in a certain language and their correspondence to the spoken language. One major task is the descriptive analysis of implicit orthographic regularities (graphotactics) to formulate explicit rules (orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
) that can be used in prescriptive education or in computer linguistics, e.g. for speech synthesis
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
.
In analogy to phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
and (allo
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
)phone
Phone
Within phonetics, a phone is:* a speech sound or gesture considered a physical event without regard to its place in the phonology of a language* a speech segment that possesses distinct physical or perceptual properties...
in phonology
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...
, the graphic units of language are graphemes, i.e. language-specific character
Character
- Art and entertainment :* Character , an agent in a work of art, including literature, drama, cinema, opera, etc.* Character , a 1997 Dutch film, based on the novel by Dutch author Ferdinand Bordewijk* Character , by Dark Tranquillity...
s, and graph
Graph
Graph may refer to:* A graphic depicting the relationship between two or more variables used, for instance, in visualising scientific data.In mathematics:* Graph , is a set of vertices and edges....
s, i.e. language-specific glyph
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
s. Different schools of thought consider different entities to be graphemes; major points of divergence are the handling of punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
, diacritic marks, plurigraph
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
s and non-alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
ic script
Script
Script may refer to:Computing* Script , a small program written for a command interpreter or another scripting language* script , a tool that records a tty session* SCRIPT/VS, a text formatting language developed at IBM...
s.
Analoguous to phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
, the etic
Emic and etic
Emic and etic are terms used by anthropologists and by others in the social and behavioral sciences to refer to two kinds of data concerning human behavior...
counterpart of graphemics is called graphetics
Graphetics
Graphetics is a branch of linguistics concerned with the analysis of the physical properties of shapes used in writing. It is an etic study, meaning that it has an outsider's perspective and is not concerned with any particular writing system...
and deals with the material side only (including paleography, typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
, and graphology
Graphology
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
).