Editing Phoneme (section)

==In sign languages==
Sign language phonemes are bundles of articulation features. [[William Stokoe|Stokoe]] was the first scholar to describe the phonemic system of [[American Sign Language|ASL]]. He identified the bundles ''[[location (sign language)|tab]]'' (elements of location, from Latin ''tabula''), ''[[handshape|dez]]'' (the handshape, from ''designator''), and ''[[movement (sign language)|sig]]'' (the motion, from ''signation''). Some researchers also discern ''[[orientation (sign language)|ori]]'' (orientation), facial [[expression (sign language)|expression]] or [[mouthing]]. Just as with spoken languages, when features are combined, they create phonemes. As in spoken languages, sign languages have minimal pairs which differ in only one phoneme. For instance, the ASL signs for ''[https://media.spreadthesign.com/video/mp4/13/455635.mp4 father]'' and ''[https://media.spreadthesign.com/video/mp4/13/48601.mp4 mother]'' differ minimally with respect to location while handshape and movement are identical; location is thus contrastive.

[[Stokoe notation|Stokoe's terminology and notation system]] are no longer used by researchers to describe the phonemes of sign languages; [[William Stokoe]]'s research, while still considered seminal, has been found not to characterize American Sign Language or other sign languages sufficiently.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Linguistics of American Sign Language : an introduction|last1=Clayton|first1=Valli|last2=Lucas|first2=Ceil|date=2000|publisher=[[Gallaudet University Press]]|isbn=9781563680977|edition=3rd|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=57352333|author-link1=Clayton Valli|author-link2=Ceil Lucas}}</ref> For instance, [[Sign language#Non-manual elements|non-manual features]] are not included in Stokoe's classification. More sophisticated models of sign language phonology have since been proposed by [[ Diane Brentari|Brentari]],<ref>Brentari, Diane (1998). ''A prosodic model of sign language phonology''. MIT Press.</ref> [[Wendy Sandler|Sandler]],<ref>Sandler, Wendy (1989). ''Phonological representation of the sign: linearity and nonlinearity in American Sign Language''. Foris.</ref> and Van der Kooij.<ref>Kooij, Els van der (2002). ''Phonological categories in Sign Language of the Netherlands. The role of phonetic implementation and iconicity''. PhD dissertation, Leiden University.</ref>

===Chereme{{anchor|Cherology}}{{anchor|Chereme}}===
<!-- linked from redirect [[Chereme]] and [[Cherology]] -->
'''Cherology''' and '''chereme''' (from {{Langx|grc|χείρ}} "hand") are synonyms of [[phonology]] and phoneme previously used in the study of [[sign language]]s. A ''chereme'', as the basic unit of signed communication, is functionally and psychologically equivalent to the phonemes of oral languages, and has been replaced by that term in the academic literature. ''Cherology'', as the study of ''cheremes'' in language, is thus equivalent to phonology. The terms are not in use anymore. Instead, the terms ''phonology'' and ''phoneme'' (or ''distinctive feature'') are used to stress the linguistic similarities between signed and spoken languages.<ref>Bross, Fabian. 2015. "Chereme", in In: Hall, T. A. Pompino-Marschall, B. (ed.): Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Science (Wörterbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, WSK). Volume: Phonetics and Phonology. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.</ref>

The terms were coined in 1960 by [[William Stokoe]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stokoe |first1=William C. |date=1960 |url=http://saveourdeafschools.org/stokoe_1960.pdf |title=Sign Language Structure: An Outline of the Visual Communication Systems of the American Deaf |series=Studies in linguistics: Occasional papers (No. 8) |publisher=Dept. of Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Buffalo |via=Save Our Deaf Schools |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123193225/http://saveourdeafschools.org/stokoe_1960.pdf |archive-date= Nov 23, 2021 }}</ref> at [[Gallaudet University]] to describe sign languages as true and full languages. Once a controversial idea, the position is now universally accepted in linguistics. Stokoe's terminology, however, has been largely abandoned.<ref>Seegmiller, 2006. "Stokoe, William (1919–2000)", in ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'', 2nd ed.</ref>