The segmental phoneme, its aspects and allophones.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1045.

Phonetic theory

The Segmental phoneme (Vasilyev) – is the smallest (that is further indivisible into smaller consecutive segments) language unit (sound type) that exists in the speech of all members of a given language community, as such speech sounds which are capable of distinguishing one word from another or one grammatical form of a word from another grammatical form of the same word. The phoneme is the basic component. Phonemes exist in the material form of allophones in various combinations. This component has a systemic character, it is related in classification: 1) Consonants and vowels. 2) Other classes according to different criteria. It was proved that classifications are symmetric. Phonemes are grouped in these classifications, in series which turn out to be more or less symmetrically arranged. The first aspect of the phonemic component is that it is not only the system of the phonemes as discreet and isolated units. It can be revealed in combinations of the allophones, occurring in words and at junction or words in phrases and sentences. The first materialistic definition of the phoneme was given by Shcherba. In our actual speech we pronounce a great number of sounds which are united in a comparatively small sound type. These types are capable of differentiating words and their forms, in other words they serve as means of differentiation. The actually pronounced sounds should be called “shades” of phonemes. They are the particular in which the general is realized. The phoneme is important for distinguishing lexical and grammatical meanings. It possesses distinctive features.