A theory of graphemics

Abstract In recent years, following upon the development of phonemic theory, there have been several discussions of the relation of phonemes to their written notation 1 , and parallel to phoneme and phonemics, the terms grapheme and graphemics have come into use. However, such treatments of the subject as have appeared have either been fragmentary or have laid excessive emphasis on the supposed independence of grapheme from phoneme 2 . It seems, therefore, advisable to formulate and codify a comprehensive, unified theory of graphemics, which it is hoped may prove instructive in its resemblances to phonemic theory and also in its differences therefrom. It may also be helpful in clarifying the relationships between speech and writing, which have often been confused because of a lack of understanding of the systematic aspects of both.