A term coined by the developmental psychologist Michael Tomasello. Relates to an early multi-word utterance in first language acquisition which exhibits functional asymmetry. That is, the expressions contain a relatively stable element with 'slots' that can be filled by other lexical items. Thus early multi-word utterances, rather than containing two or more words of equal status, tend to be 'built' around a functionally more salient and stable word.

Some examples of attested utterance schemas include: Here's the X, I wanna X, More X, It's a X, There's a X, Put X here, Throw X, X gone, X here. The obligatory element in an utterance schema is known as the 'pivot'.

Like a holophrase, an utterance schema reflects the communicative intention of an equivalent adult utterance, but represents the acquisition of more schematic knowledge, allowing a wider range of lexical items to fill the slots.