holophrase (n.)

A term used in language ACQUISITION to refer to a GRAMMATICALLY unstructured UTTERANCE, usually consisting of a single WORD, which is characteristic of the earliest stage of LANGUAGE learning in children. Typical holophrastic utterances include dada, allgone, more, there. Theoretical controversy centres on the extent to which these utterances may be analyzed as SENTENCES (‘one-word sentences’), or as a reduced version of a sentence, whose other ELEMENTS are ‘understood’ in the EXTRALINGUISTIC SITUATION (e.g. daddy means ‘there is daddy’, the there is being expressed by gesture, tone of voice, etc.). Holophrasis is also sometimes identified in adult utterances where there is no internal STRUCTURAL contrastivity, such as thanks, please, sorry.