grammatology

[ gram-uh-tol-uh-jee ]

noun

1. the scientific study of systems of writing.

grammatology

/ ˌɡræməˈtɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. the scientific study of writing systems

Derived Forms

• ˌgrammaˈtologist, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of grammatology¹

< Greek grammat-, stem of grámma letter + -o- + -logy

Example Sentences

She translated Jacques Derrida’s Of Grammatology into English in 1976, making a name for herself as a scholar of deconstruction, a school of philosophy and method of literary critique that exposes the instability of meaning.

From Slate

Even if you weren't a graduate student in the late decades of the 20th century poring over Derrida's "Of Grammatology" and Barthes' watershed essay "The Death of the Author," from which Drukman has filched his title, this satire of modern campus life will still sting.

From Los Angeles Times

In the book's first section, she stumbles into a lit theory class, where the other students roll their own cigarettes, quote Of Grammatology, and work hard to be epicene.

From Slate

I’m taking this course because I read ‘Of Grammatology’ last summer and it blew my mind.”

From The New Yorker

For the past five years, the world's most famous living philosopher, author of such Gitanes-and-black-turtleneck classics as Of Grammatology, allowed a camera to follow him around in order to make Derrida, a documentary that demonstrates, if nothing else, that The Osbournes' celebrity reality-show virus has spread all the way up to the top of the culture.

From Time Magazine Archive