Definition of Phoneme

There are different opinions on the nature of the phoneme and its definition among swlars. Russian linguist I.A. Baudonin de Courtenay viewed phonemes as fictitious units and considered them to be only perceptions. Ferdinand de Saussure (France) viewed phonemes as the sum of acoustic impressions and articulatory movements. Trubetskoy (the Prague Linguistic School) defined the phoneme as a unity of phonologically relevant features. D. Jones head of the London School of phonology, defined phonemes as a family of sounds.

The phoneme theory in America was elaborated by the so called structuralists L. Bloomficld, E. Sapir and others who define the phoneme as a minimum unit of distinctive sound-features, an “abstractional fiction”.

Academician Shckerba’s definition of the phoneme: it is a real independent distinctive unit which manifests itself in the form of its allophones.

Prof. Vassilyev in his book “English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course” writes that a phoneme is a unity of 3 aspects: (1) material, real and objective,

(2) abstractional and generalized,

(3) functional.

In speech the phoneme serves to perform 3 functions:

(a) constitutive

(b) distinctive

(c) recognitive (see Lecture 1 – (previous)

The phoneme is material because it really exists in the form of speech sounds, allophones.

The phoneme is an abstraction – it is not any definite d – sound, for example, but an abstractional language unit, which exists in the form of its allophones.

The phoneme is functional, because it functions to make one word or its grammatical form distinct from the other, it functions because it constitutes words and because due to the fact that it really functions we recognize words (even though they are not pronounced properly).

Each phoneme manifests itself in a certain pattern of distribution. The patterns of distribution may be different. The simplest is free variation.

That is the variation of one and the same phoneme pronounced by the same or different speakers, e.g. the pronunciation of the phoneme k with different degrees of aspiration which doesn’t affect the differentiatory properties of this phoneme.

Complementary distribution is another pattern of phoneme environment, when one and the same phoneme occurs in a definite set of contexts in which no other phoneme ever occurs. In other words, if the same sound occurs in different environments, it is supposed to be one phoneme which manifests itself in the form of different allophones. Different phonemes can occur in identical context which is not the case with allophones.

Sounds are in contrastive distribution when we find them in contrasted pairs: said – sad, pit – peat, bed – bad, take – cake.

Here we can observe contexts which are the same but for one sound phoneme.

Phonemes are discovered by the method of minimal pairs, or by distinctive oppositions. This method consists in finding as many pairs of words as possible which differ in one phoneme.

The substitution of one sound for another is called commutation test (коммутационная проверка). If such substitution results in the change of meaning, the commuted sounds are different phonemes.

The method of distinctive opposition enables one to prove whether the phonemic difference is relevant or not.

e.g. t – is a forelingual plosive occlusive voiceless for this phoneme:

d – is also a forelingual plosive occlusive, but a voiced lenis phoneme.

So, for t-d the only relevant distinctive features are: voiceless fortis vs. voiced lenis. Other features are irrelevant.

Depending on the number of relevant distinctive features oppositions can be:

1) single

2) double

3) multiple

Example of double opposition: in the pairs pie – die, pail – dale, pry – dry.

There are 2 distinctively relevant features:

1) voiceless fortis vs. voiced lenis

2) labial bilabial vs. lingual forelingual alveolar

The /b – h/ phonemes in the pairs be – he, bit – hit, bait – hate

Are characterized by 3 distinctively relevant features and only one distinctively irrelevan feature.

b h

voiced lenis ^{___________________________________________________} voiced fortic

labial bilabial ^{___________________________________________________} pharyngal

occlusive noise unicentral ^{___________________________________} constrictive noise unicentral

This is an example of a multiple opposition.

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