Listéslistées

Listéslistées is a coined term used to describe a particular kind of list structure in linguistic, information-design, and computer-science discussions. It refers to a list in which the items are themselves lists, or where a listing explicitly includes sublists. In this sense, listéslistées characterizes recursive or meta-list phenomena, where listing operates on multiple levels at once.

Etymology and sense of the term are informal. The form resembles French roots: listes meaning lists and listées suggesting something that has been listed, with a stylistic reduplication to emphasize layering. It is not an established term in standard reference works, but is used in theoretical writing to name a familiar structural pattern.

Key characteristics include recursion, hierarchical organization, and explicit sublisting. A listéslistées can operate in two popular variants: a list whose elements are lists, and a master list that includes descriptive sublists for each item. This structure facilitates representing complex data, such as catalogs with categorized subentries, or documents where sections list subtopics that themselves contain itemized details.

Applications and implications: in information design, listéslistées support clear representation of multi-level data without resorting to separate navigation layers. In programming and data modeling, they align with nested list or tree-like structures. In rhetoric or writing, they can help illustrate how a concept is broken down into nested components.

See also: list of lists, nested data structures, recursive enumeration, meta-listing.