Etymological sub-lexicons constrain the graphematic solution space

Graphematics comprises of the theory of writing systems dissociated from thenormative aspects of orthography. Neef (2005, 2012) adds the notion of graphematicsolution space, the orthographic options available for the words in alanguage. These options may be different for the words of different sub-lexicons,an issue that calls for a definition of such sub-lexicons. This paper proposesto use the filter approach of Van Heuven, Neijt, & Hijzelendoorn (1994). Thispaper concludes with critical remarks about Neef ’s assumption of a subset relationbetween vocabulary levels and the more general claim of the graphematicsenterprise that the study of writing systems can escape the norms and conventionsof orthography.