phememen.
/ˈfiːmiːm/, U.S. /ˈfiˌmim/ Linguistics. Now rare.
Leonard Bloomfield's name for: the smallest linguistic unit.
ΚΠ
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xvi. 264 The parallelism of lexical and grammatical features can be exhibited in a set of terms like the following: (1) Smallest and meaningless unit of linguistic signaling: phememe; (a) lexical: phoneme; (b) grammatical: taxeme.
1936 J. R. Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. xi. 149 The reader will notice the three hierarchical steps or classes: phememe, glosseme, and linguistic form.
1962 J. L. Austin et al. How to do Things with Words vii. 92 A ‘pheme’ (as distinct from the phememe of linguistic theory).
1993 Current Anthropol. 34 572/2 Phememes are vocal signs of distinct semantic and phonological character.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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