sema Linguistics.
(ˈsiːmə, ˈseɪ-)
Pl. ˈsemas, ˈsemata.
[a. G. sema (V. Skalička Zur ungarischen Grammatik (1935) 13), f. Gr. σῆµα sign.]
= seme. Also transf.
| 1938 C. E. Bazell in Trans. Philol. Soc. 112 It is only from the standpoint of their formatives that these morphemes behave like the ‘cellules’ (we should say the semata) of a single morpheme. Ibid. 113 There seems no reason to doubt that the smallest element in grammar, as Skalička holds, is the sema. 1973 D. Osmond-Smith tr. Bettetini's Lang. & Technique of Film i. 4 One must take into account..the so-called ‘semas’—that is, signs whose signifieds correspond to a verbal proposition. |