glosseme

linguistics

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June 29, 2026

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A glosseme is the smallest unit that conveys meaning in a language. This can include words, stems, grammatical elements, intonation, or word order.1

Glossematics is a linguistic theory developed by Louis Hjelmslev, building on the work of Ferdinand de Saussure. It focuses on analyzing language through the distribution and relationships of these glossemes. While influential in European structuralism, glossematics has had less impact in the United States. The term "glossemes" refers to the plural form of glosseme.21

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glossematics
…the distribution and interrelationship of glossemes, the smallest meaningful units of a language—e.g., a word, a stem, a grammatical element, a word order, or an intonation. Glossematics is a theory and system of linguistic analysis proposed by the Danish scholar Louis Hjelmslev (1899–1965) and his collaborators, who were strongly influenced…
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…the distribution and interrelationship of glossemes, the smallest meaningful units of a language—e.g., a word, a stem, a grammatical element, a word order, or an intonation. Glossematics is a theory and system of linguistic analysis proposed by the Danish scholar Louis Hjelmslev (1899–1965) and his collaborators, who were strongly influenced…
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