Pronunciation: [hˈɒləfɹˌe͡ɪz] (IPA) 
The term "holophrase" is spelled with six letters, and is pronounced /ˈhɒləfreɪz/. The "h" at the beginning of the word is silent, and the "o" is pronounced as "ah". The "l" in "holo" is pronounced as a dark "l", as in "full". The second syllable "phra" is pronounced with a short "a" sound as in "cat". Lastly, the final syllable "se" contains a long "a" sound like in "say" and is pronounced in a similar manner as "phrase".
Holophrase is a linguistic term that refers to a single word or phrase that conveys a complex meaning or a complete thought. It is a type of expression commonly found in early stages of language development, particularly in children and certain languages with limited syntactic structures.
A holophrase is essentially a condensed expression in which a whole sentence or idea is communicated in a single word or phrase. For instance, a child might use the word "up" to convey the desire to be picked up by a caregiver, which implies a complete thought of wanting to move from a lower position to a higher one. In this case, "up" functions as a holophrase.
This linguistic phenomenon is primarily observed in preverbal children during the one-word stage of language acquisition, where they rely on context and intonation to communicate complex meanings. However, holophrases can also be found in certain languages that have highly inflectional or agglutinative structures, in which one word can encompass diverse grammatical information.
While holophrases can be sufficient for simple communications, they are not generally used in more sophisticated languages with complex syntactic structures. As children develop their language skills, they gradually move beyond holophrastic utterances and begin to construct more elaborate sentences.
The word holophrase is derived from the Greek roots holos meaning whole or entire and phrasis meaning speech or expression.
