Literaalien

Literaalien is a term used in some linguistic traditions to denote the basic units of a writing system that function as graphemic signs, i.e., the units commonly referred to as letters. In this sense, literaalien are the symbols that encode phonological information or distinguish meaning in written text. The term is most common in Dutch-language linguistics, where literaal means "letter" and literaalien is its plural.

The concept covers single-character signs such as a, b, or α, as well as multi-character signs that are treated as a single graphemic unit, such as digraphs or ligatures (for example ch in historical Spanish, ä in German, or œ in French). Diacritics attached to base signs may or may not be counted as separate literaalien depending on the analytical framework.

Literaalien can be simple or composite. Simple literaalien include the basic alphabetic characters; composite literaalien include ligatures (æ, œ) and multi-letter signs (ch, ng in some languages) that function as single graphemic units. The classification varies by script and scholarly tradition.

Understanding literaalien is central to graphemics, the study of writing systems, as it clarifies the mapping between written signs and spoken language. It also informs orthography design, typography, and digital encoding where literaalien must be represented in fonts and input methods.

While in many contexts the standard term grapheme is preferred in English-language literature, literaalien remains a useful term in Dutch- and German-language discussions of sign inventory and orthographic theory.

Related concepts include grapheme, letter, digraph, ligature, and diacritic.