The Phonemic Interpretation of Long Consonants

Is phonemic procedure arbitrary? It can be, but I submit that it need not be. If one defines a phoneme as ‘one of an exhaustive list of classes of sounds in a language’ 1 , one admits an endless variety of treatments and the choice of one or another treatment is arbitrary. The ideal of exhaustiveness is not in itself sufficient to define a unique scientific procedure: But if we also take the ideals of simplicity and self-consistency, we have the basis for a non-arbitrary method, particularly in view of the essentially systematic nature of phonetic totalities. The aim of a phonemic analysis may then be stated as: the smallest number of elements having the largest number of permutations and the most systematic relationships. To attain this ideal, it is necessary to consider always the totality 2 of phenomena in the given language. A formulation as to any detail must be made on the basis of all pertinent and comparable data anywhere in the totality of the given phonetic system. In the present paper I propose to demonstrate this method in application to a selected type of phenomenon, long consonants, in different phonetic totalities. 3

Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology

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