lexigramn.
/ˈlɛksɪɡram/ Linguistics.
Any of a set of symbols representing words; spec. one of those used in the investigation of language learning by chimpanzees.
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the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > word > [noun] > symbol representing word
word-symbol1852
lexigram1973
society > communication > representation > physical representation of abstraction > symbolizing > [noun] > a symbol > specific symbols > others
Samian letter1616
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Tetragrammaton1656
arrow1744
arrowhead1832
wind1847
scarlet letter1850
sun wheel1865
sacred axe1866
rising sun1868
crow's foot1871
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hexagram1882
sun sign1882
Easter bunny1900
Staffordshire knot1908
sinsigna1914
tectiform1921
padma1954
smiley face1957
happy face1971
lexigram1973
emoticon1988
smiley1989
1973 Times-Herald-Rec. (Middletown, N.Y.) 30 Apr. 24/1 Scientists are teaching a young chimpanzee named Lana to punch out ‘sentences’... The keyboard uses symbols instead of words. Lana knows between 35 and 40 of the 45 symbols—called lexigrams.
1978 Amer. Speech 53 272 For Rumbaugh's program, von Glasersfeld designed one [sc. language-like system] in which the unit signals are visual configurations of uniform size, dubbed ‘lexigrams’.
1980 Nature 24 Apr. 685/1 Their chimpanzees seem to have the ability to use a lexigram or geometric design such as the design for ‘key’, in a highly specific context, but become bewildered upon its application to a wider array of contexts.
1985 Amer. Jrnl. Mental Deficiency 90 185/2 Smith and White found that their four severely retarded subjects, who had extensive experience..with lexigrams, responded as accurately to English words as they did to lexigrams.
1991 Discover Mar. 20/2 Kanzi [sc. a chimpanzee]..pointed to the lexigram for ‘chase’, and scampered playfully away.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1997; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1973