syllabism

English

Noun

syllabism (countable and uncountable, plural syllabisms)

1. (linguistics) The expression of the sounds of a language by syllables, rather than by an alphabet or by signs for words.
   • 1995, Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet: An Account of the Origin and Development of Letters:

     This latent syllabism, which underlies the alphabetism of the hieroglyphic writing, indicates with sufficient clearness the origin of the Egyptian alphabet.

Related terms

• isosyllabism