Used of
writing systems: that
encode meaning, rather than
sound. The more pleremic a script is, the more the symbols refer
directly to
lexemes rather than
phonemes. A writing system that is
very pleremic, although not completely, is the
Chinese ideographic
script.
Semitic scripts such as
Hebrew and
Arabic may be seen
as somewhat pleremic, since they most often
elide vowel signs, and
thus, it is more difficult for readers to translate the symbols into
sound, and fill in the missing vowels, than to store entire word-images
in their heads.
See also: cenemic.