The Abstract (Generalized) Aspect

THE PHONEME THEORY

We are going to discuss some problems of segmental phonetics, to be more exact the linguistic function of individual sounds, or “segments of speech”. Speech sounds form morphemes, words, sentences.

When we use the term “sound” we are faced with the problem of identifying numerous phonetic differences and similarities between sounds.

How do we decide, which sounds are the same and which are different? The linguists use two terms “the phoneme”, which is referred to “sound” in its contrastive sense, sound capable of distinguishing the meaning of words, and the “allophone”, the representation of the phoneme in a particular position or context.

To explain these notions we must formulate the definition of the phoneme.

There exist various definitions of the phoneme. We are going to use the definition based on the conception of L.V.Shcherba. The phoneme is a minimal abstract language unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.

It is possible to single out three aspects of the phoneme. The aspects of the phoneme reflected in the definition are:

- material

- abstract (generalized)

- functional

Let’s look at each of them in detail.

The Material Aspect

This aspect is reflected in this part of the definition: “realized in speech in the form of speech sounds”. In other words, each phoneme is realized as a set of predictable speech sounds, which are called allophones.

Allophones of the same phoneme generally meet the following requirements:

1. they possess similar articulatory features, but at the same time they may show considerable phonetic differences;

2. they never occur in the same phonetic context;

3. they can’t be opposed to one another, they are not able to differentiate the meaning.

The difference between allophones is the result of the influence of the neighbouring sounds, or the phonetic context. We distinguish two types of allophones; principal and subsidiary. The allophones which don’t undergo any changes in the chain of speech are called principal. They are closest to the sound pronounced in isolation. In the articulation of subsidiary allophones we observe predictable changes under the influence of the phonetic context.

The actually pronounced sound that we hear reflects phonostylistic, regional, occasional and individual peculiarities, it is called the phone.

The Abstract (Generalized) Aspect

This aspect is reflected in the following part of the definition: ”the phoneme is a language unit”.

The phoneme belongs to the language, while the allophone belongs to the speech. Language is an abstract category, it is an abstraction from speech. Speech is the reality of language. Thus the phoneme as a language unit is materialized in speech sounds.

So the phoneme is an abstraction from speech sounds, it is also a generalisation of actually pronounced speech sounds. A native speaker doesn’t pay attention to the difference between allophones of the same phoneme, he is not aware of the difference which doesn’t affect the meaning. The native speaker has a generalized idea of a complex of distinctive features, which can’t be changed without changing the meaning.

The articulatory features that can’t be changed without the change of meaning are called relevant (distinctive). The native speaker generalizes these features common to all the allophones of the phoneme into the invariant. In other words, the invariant of the phoneme is a bundle of its distinctive features.

We see that the phoneme is, on the one hand, objective and real, because it is realized in speech in the material form of speech sounds, and, on the other hand, it is an abstract language unit.

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