| 释义 |
grapheme Linguistics.|ˈgræfiːm|
[f. graph n.3 + -eme; cf. morpheme.]
The class of letters and other visual symbols that represent a phoneme or cluster of phonemes, as e.g. the grapheme 〈f〉 consists of the allographs f, ff, F, Ff, gh, ph, and Ph which represent the phoneme /f/ in fun, huffy, Fingal, Ffoulkes, cough, graph, and Philip respectively; so, in a given writing system of a given language, a feature of written expression that cannot be analysed into smaller meaningful units.
1935W. F. Twaddell Defining Phoneme 54 It would clarify the issue if these units might be called ‘graphemes’. 1937R. H. Stetson in Mélanges Ling. et Philol. offerts à J. van Ginnekin 353 The unit of writing may be called the grapheme. 1951, etc. [see allograph2]. 1955H. A. Gleason Introd. Descr. Ling. xxi. 302 A writing system consists of a set of graphemes plus certain characteristic features of their use. 1958A. A. Hill Introd. Ling. Struct. 443 The grapheme for /+/ was normally the blank space left between words. 1964R. A. Hall Introductory Linguistics xliv. 265 In the Greek alphabet, the grapheme 〈σ〉 ‘sigma’, corresponding to our 〈s〉, has the two allographs ς (occurring only at the end of a word, before space) and σ (used elsewhere). |