sememe (n.)

A term used in some SEMANTIC theories to refer to a minimal UNIT of MEANING. For some, a sememe is equivalent to the meaning of a MORPHEME; for others it is a FEATURE of meaning, equivalent to the notion of ‘semantic COMPONENT’ or ‘semantic feature’ in some theories. The term sememics is used as part of the description of strata in STRATIFICATIONAL GRAMMAR; the sememic stratum, which handles the SYSTEMS of semantic relationship between LEXICAL ITEMS, is here distinguished from the HYPERSEMEMIC stratum, at which is analysed the relationship between LANGUAGE and the external world. Semotactics, in this approach, involves the study of the SEQUENTIAL arrangement of sememes.