Glossematics

glossematics, system of linguistic analysis based on 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 by the work of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Glossematics has been an important component of European structuralism but has had relatively little influence in the United States, except in relation to stratificational grammar, a grammar originated by American linguist Sydney M. Lamb.