Phoneme theory existing in this country and abroad.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1309.

There are many definitions of the phoneme. They can be grouped according to what characteristic feature of the phoneme is exaggerated or ignored.

The abstractional aspect of the phoneme may be exaggerated. This theory was originated by Baudouin de Courtenay (1845 – 1929), a famous Russian linguist. He defined the phoneme as a psychic image of the sound. He originated so-called “mentalist view”. According to him, the phoneme exists in the mind of the speaker but not in reality. Speech sounds that we pronounce are imperfect realizations of these mental units existing in the mind of the speaker.

Why does he say “imperfect realization? Because he realises that allophones of the same phoneme differ. This point of view can be qualified as idealistic, or mentalistic point of view. This definition was developed by Lev Vladimirovich Shcherba (1880 – 1944), a famous Soviet linguist. Shcherba followed Baurdouin defined the phoneme. Later, in the early 30's, he put forward “a truly materialistic conception of the phoneme”.

Shcherba was the 1^st to define the phoneme as a real independent distinctive unit which manifests itself in the form of allophones. Shcherba stated that in actual speech we pronounce a much greater variety of sounds than we are aware of. In every language these sounds are united in a comparatively small number of sounds types which are capable of distinguishing the meaning and the form of words.

These sound types are studied as differentiatory units of the language. The actually pronounced speech sounds are variants, or allophones of the phoneme.

Professor I.V. Vasiljev developed Shcherba's theory and presented a detail definition of the phoneme: “ The phoneme is the smallest, further indivisible language unit existing in the speech of all the members of the given language community, as such speech sounds which are capable of differentiating the meaning”.

It's obvious from this definition that the phoneme is a dialectic unity of 3 aspects:

1. material

2. abstract

3. functional.

The phoneme is materialbecause it exists in our speech in the form of speech sounds. Speech sounds may be heard and recorded.

Abstractional aspect of the phoneme: it was mentioned in the definition that a phoneme is a language unit. What is language: abstraction, or reality? Language is an abstraction, while speech is reality. The phoneme is an abstraction from speech sounds, while speech sounds are reality. Native speakers don't observe any difference between allophones – they abstract themselves from the difference between allophones of the same phoneme.

Why it is so? Because the difference between the allophones of the same phoneme doesn't serve to change the meaning; but there are features common to all allophones of the same phoneme.

All the allophones of the phoneme [t] are:

- forelingual;

- occlusive;

- voiceless (fortis).

These common features from the bundle of these features, the so-called “Invariant” of the phoneme [t]. They are generalised in our mind into the invariant of the phoneme. Neither of these features can be changed without affecting the meaning.

E.g., if we change forelingual into backlingual (trey – grey; try – cry) the meaning becomes different. If we change occlusive to constrictive [t] – [c], the meaning also become different. If we change voiceless (fortis) into voiced (lenis) and vice versa (ten – den) the meaning will also change.

It is not correct to say “pronounce this phoneme”, we should say “pronounce this sound”. Phonemes exist ONLY in the material form of speech sounds. Phonemes can distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words – it is their main linguistic function.

e.g. go – goes, day – days, sheep – ship.

Functional aspect. The phonemes distinguish not only the meaning of words and morphemes, but also the meaning of entire sentence.

E.g. There is no room for you in my heart.

There is no room for you in my hut.

He was hurt badly.

He was heard badly.

The distinctive function of the phoneme can be performed through the opposition of their articulatory features, which constitute its variant that can be changes without affecting the meaning. These articulatory features are called “distinctive”, or “relevant'.

e.g. tea – sea – relative features: occlusive and constrictive.

Those articulatory features that can't differentiate the meaning are called “irrelevant” or “non-distinctive”.

E.g. vowel length in English is irrelevant, quality is more important here. Aspiration in English is irrelevant or non-distinctive; you can never find aspirated and not aspirated sounds in the same phonetic context.

Quality of sounds is MORE important than quantity.

All the phonemes of a language form a system of phonological oppositions, in which all the phonemes are opposed (or can be opposed) to each other in at least ONE pair of words.

CONCLUSION: Professor Vasiljev states that phonemes are material, real and objective because it really exists in the material form of speech sounds (or allophones). It is an objective reality existing independently from our will, our intention. It is an abstraction because we make it abstract from concrete realisations for classificatory purposes. It functions to make one word or its grammatical form distinct from another. It constitutes the words and helps to recognise them.

The phonemes serve to perform the following functions:

1. constitutive;

2. distinctive;

3. recognitive.

Though phonemes taken in insolation are meaningless, they are linguistically important. Phonemes in their material form (in the form of speech sounds) constitute morphemes, words and sentences, all of which are meaningful. This is the constitutive function of the phoneme.

The phoneme also performs the distinctive function, because phonemes distinguish one word from another.

The recognitive function of the phoneme manifests itself in the process of recognition or identification. Native speakers can easily identify definite combinations of phonemes as meaningful linguistic units (words, word combinations or phrases).

CONCLUSION: The phoneme is a linguistically relevant unit that exists in speech in the material form of allophones. The phoneme is a phonological unit, which is represented in speech by phonetic units (speech sounds).