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From: rickw@eskimo.com (Richard Wojcik)
Subject: Re: Power spectrum of phonemes?
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References: <AC7F815C966813DB1@yarn.demon.co.uk> <rte-2709951124530001@mac-118.lz.att.com> <DFs1y1.C59@eskimo.com> <rte-0210951046590001@mac-118.lz.att.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 00:22:15 GMT
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In article <rte-0210951046590001@mac-118.lz.att.com>,
Ralph T. Edwards <rte@elmo.lz.att.com> wrote:
>In article <DFs1y1.C59@eskimo.com>, rickw@eskimo.com (Richard Wojcik) wrote:
>> >>  Whether or not you insist on phonemes
>> >> having a unique phonetic identity is, again, a matter of theoretical
>> >> viewpoint.  
>...snip
>> 
>> All I meant by my statement was that the definition of phonemes has been
>> controversial.  That is a matter of historical record.  Not everyone agrees
>> (or has agreed) that phonemic distinctions can be neutralized in speech.
>
>Neutralized in speech?  Huh?  (Mysterious)

Phonemes are phonetic units (or classes of units) that function in a
language to distinguish morphemes or words.  Early phonemic theory (roughly
1880-1930) assumed that phonemes could be completely neutralized in speech
from a phonetic point of view.  For example, one could take the "flapped
/t/" in `writing' and the "flapped /d/" in `riding' as a phonemic overlap
or neutralization.  This was what Bloomfield did.  After the turn of the
century, linguists began to challenge the notion of phonemic
neutralization, and phonemes actually came to be defined as phonetically
unambiguous at one point.  Many linguists today still use the term
"phoneme" to describe a phonetically unambiguous sound unit or category.
-- 
Rick Wojcik  rickw@eskimo.com     Seattle (for locals: Bellevue), WA
             http://www.eskimo.com/~rickw/
