Phonology

Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[a]) is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages systematically organize their phonemes or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a particular language variety. At one time, the study of phonology related only to the study of the systems of phonemes in spoken languages, but now it may relate to any linguistic analysis either:

at a level beneath the word (including syllable, onset and rime, articulatory gestures, articulatory features, mora, etc.), or
all levels of language in which sound or signs are structured to convey linguistic meaning.^[9]

Sign languages have a phonological system equivalent to the system of sounds in spoken languages. The building blocks of signs are specifications for movement, location, and handshape.^[10] At first, a separate terminology was used for the study of sign phonology ("chereme" instead of "phoneme", etc.), but the concepts are now considered to apply universally to all human languages.

^ Buck, Carl Darling (January 1945). ""Phonemics" versus "Phonematics"". Classical Philology. 40 (1). University of Chicago: 47. Professor Whatmough's assault on the terms "phonemic" and "phonemics" seemed to me, as to others, pedantic. So it is a pleasure to discover that his antipathy to these now well-established terms is not so deep rooted and consistent as one would suppose from his words in CP, XXXVIII (1943), 211: "Nobody says mathemics instead of mathematics; and I, for one, do not say, and never shall, phonemics for phonematics or phonemic for phonematic." In happening to re-read an earlier article of his in the Mélanges linguistiques offerts à M. Holger Pedersen (1937),. I find him beginning a sentence (p. 46) "Ideally the phonemic system of a language. . . . ."
^ ^a ^b Trask (1996, p. 267): "phonemics /fəˈniːmɪks/ n. [obsolescent] 1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often preferred by the American Structuralists and reflecting the importance in structuralist work of phonemics in sense 1."
^ ^a ^b Trask (1996, p. 264): "phonematics /fəʊnɪˈmætɪks/ n. 1. [obsolete] An old synonym for phonemics (sense 2)."
^ "phonematics". Collins.
^ Trauth, Gregory; Kazzazi, Kerstin, eds. (1998). "phonemics". Hadumod Bussmann Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft [Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics]. Translated by Trauth, Gregory; Kazzazi, Kerstin. Routledge. p. 892. 1 Synonym for phonology.
2 Because of the historical connotations that since the time of the Neogrammarians were attached to the term phonology, which today is used for synchronic and diachronic studies, 'phonemics' was first used by the American structuralists for 'synchronic phonology.' This designation was also meant to distinguish the American structuralist approach from that of the European structuralists, especially those of the Prague School.
^ Crystal, David, ed. (2008). "phoneme". A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th ed.). Blackwell Publishing. p. 362. ISBN 978-1-4051-5296-9. On this general basis, several approaches to phonemic analysis, or phonemics, have developed. [...] Apart from the question of definition, if the view is taken that all aspects of the sound system of a language can be analysed in terms of phonemes – that is, the suprasegmental as well as the segmental features – then 'phonemics' becomes equivalent to phonology (= phonemic phonology). This view was particularly common in later developments of the American structuralist tradition of linguistic analysis, where linguists adopting this 'phonemic principle' were called phonemicists. Many phonologists, however (particularly in the British tradition), prefer not to analyse suprasegmental features in terms of phonemes, and have developed approaches which do without the phoneme altogether ('nonphonemic phonology', as in prosodic and distinctive feature theories).
^ Richards, Jack Croft; Schmidt, Richard, eds. (2010). "phonemics n phonemic adj". Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics (4th ed.). Pearson Education. p. 433. ISBN 978-1-4082-0460-3. The term "phonemics" has been used by American linguists, particularly in structural linguistics. Lately, the term phonology has been preferred.
^ Brown, Keith; Miller, Jim, eds. (2013). "phonemics". The Cambridge Dictionary of Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-521-76675-3. The term used by American structuralists for phonology, indicating the central position of the phoneme in their analyses.
^ Brentari, Diane; Fenlon, Jordan; Cormier, Kearsy (July 2018). "Sign Language Phonology". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.117. ISBN 9780199384655. S2CID 60752232.
^ Stokoe, William C. (1978) [1960]. Sign Language Structure: An outline of the visual communication systems of the American deaf. Department of Anthropology and Linguistics, University at Buffalo. Studies in linguistics, Occasional papers. Vol. 8 (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Linstok Press.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[1] Buck, Carl Darling (January 1945). ""Phonemics" versus "Phonematics"". Classical Philology. 40 (1). University of Chicago: 47. Professor Whatmough's assault on the terms "phonemic" and "phonemics" seemed to me, as to others, pedantic. So it is a pleasure to discover that his antipathy to these now well-established terms is not so deep rooted and consistent as one would suppose from his words in CP, XXXVIII (1943), 211: "Nobody says mathemics instead of mathematics; and I, for one, do not say, and never shall, phonemics for phonematics or phonemic for phonematic." In happening to re-read an earlier article of his in the Mélanges linguistiques offerts à M. Holger Pedersen (1937),. I find him beginning a sentence (p. 46) "Ideally the phonemic system of a language. . . . ."

[trask-1996-267-2] Trask (1996, p. 267): "phonemics /fəˈniːmɪks/ n. [obsolescent] 1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often preferred by the American Structuralists and reflecting the importance in structuralist work of phonemics in sense 1."

[trask-1996-264-3] Trask (1996, p. 264): "phonematics /fəʊnɪˈmætɪks/ n. 1. [obsolete] An old synonym for phonemics (sense 2)."

[4] "phonematics". Collins.

[5] Trauth, Gregory; Kazzazi, Kerstin, eds. (1998). "phonemics". Hadumod Bussmann Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft [Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics]. Translated by Trauth, Gregory; Kazzazi, Kerstin. Routledge. p. 892. 1 Synonym for phonology.
2 Because of the historical connotations that since the time of the Neogrammarians were attached to the term phonology, which today is used for synchronic and diachronic studies, 'phonemics' was first used by the American structuralists for 'synchronic phonology.' This designation was also meant to distinguish the American structuralist approach from that of the European structuralists, especially those of the Prague School.

[6] Crystal, David, ed. (2008). "phoneme". A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th ed.). Blackwell Publishing. p. 362. ISBN 978-1-4051-5296-9. On this general basis, several approaches to phonemic analysis, or phonemics, have developed. [...] Apart from the question of definition, if the view is taken that all aspects of the sound system of a language can be analysed in terms of phonemes – that is, the suprasegmental as well as the segmental features – then 'phonemics' becomes equivalent to phonology (= phonemic phonology). This view was particularly common in later developments of the American structuralist tradition of linguistic analysis, where linguists adopting this 'phonemic principle' were called phonemicists. Many phonologists, however (particularly in the British tradition), prefer not to analyse suprasegmental features in terms of phonemes, and have developed approaches which do without the phoneme altogether ('nonphonemic phonology', as in prosodic and distinctive feature theories).

[7] Richards, Jack Croft; Schmidt, Richard, eds. (2010). "phonemics n phonemic adj". Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics (4th ed.). Pearson Education. p. 433. ISBN 978-1-4082-0460-3. The term "phonemics" has been used by American linguists, particularly in structural linguistics. Lately, the term phonology has been preferred.

[8] Brown, Keith; Miller, Jim, eds. (2013). "phonemics". The Cambridge Dictionary of Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-521-76675-3. The term used by American structuralists for phonology, indicating the central position of the phoneme in their analyses.

[10] Brentari, Diane; Fenlon, Jordan; Cormier, Kearsy (July 2018). "Sign Language Phonology". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.117. ISBN 9780199384655. S2CID 60752232.

[11] Stokoe, William C. (1978) [1960]. Sign Language Structure: An outline of the visual communication systems of the American deaf. Department of Anthropology and Linguistics, University at Buffalo. Studies in linguistics, Occasional papers. Vol. 8 (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Linstok Press.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[a]

[9]

[10]