minimeres

Minimeres are a hypothetical class of semantic units proposed in speculative linguistics to denote the smallest distinctions of meaning that can influence interpretation in discourse, finer than the traditional notion of sememes. The term suggests minimal, context-sensitive meaning components that may occur without a distinct phonological form and are not tied to a specific word.

Definition and scope: A minisere is defined as the minimal semantic content that can alter meaning in a given context. Unlike morphemes, which are tied to form, and unlike sememes, which represent basic components of meaning, minimeres are conceived as pure semantic distinctions that may emerge only through context, pragmatics, or discourse structure. They are regarded as potentially distributed across utterances rather than localized in a single lexical item.

Theoretical role: Proponents argue that minimeres could help explain subtle shifts in stance, evidentiality, modality, or aspect that escape existing semantic feature systems. In computational semantics, they are discussed as a way to enrich representations and improve fine-grained disambiguation, especially in cross-linguistic or context-rich tasks.

Measurement and debate: Evidence for minimeres often relies on psycholinguistic experiments and corpus-derived inferences, yet identification methods remain debated. Critics warn that the concept risks over-segmentation and unreliable cross-language applicability, and that robust methodologies to isolate minimeres are not yet established.

See also: sememe, morpheme, semantics, pragmatics, semantic features.

References: Minimeres remain a theoretical, debated construct with limited consensus in mainstream linguistics.