nonspaced

Nonspaced is a term used to describe text that lacks explicit spaces between words. It is not a language in its own right but a property of certain writing systems and typographic conventions where word boundaries are not marked by blank characters.

In script contexts, several languages are commonly described as nonspaced. Chinese typically writes with characters that combine into words without spaces; readers rely on lexical knowledge and context to parse boundaries. Japanese also generally prints text without spaces to separate words, though modern materials may insert spaces in educational texts, special documents, or for readability in dense passages. Thai is frequently cited as nonspaced at the word level, since spaces are not used to separate individual words, while punctuation and sentence structure guide interpretation. Other scripts, such as classical Khmer or certain decorative or calligraphic styles, may similarly omit interword spaces.

Implications of nonspaced text include cognitive and processing considerations. Readers must perform word segmentation mentally, using context, syntax, and prior knowledge. This can affect reading speed and disambiguation, particularly for language learners. In technology, nonspaced text presents challenges for natural language processing, search, indexing, and optical character recognition, which often rely on algorithms to determine word boundaries.

Terminology and usage notes: the label “nonspaced” is informal. Linguists may prefer terms like unsegmented text or scripts without explicit word boundaries. The concept highlights how writing systems differ in how they signal word units to readers.