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Modelling the Phoneme F.H.H. KORTLANDT »•**M>«>>tUfo&ia*Kmtomrtn^^ MODELLING THE PHONEME >IOUTON \ Dis<. Amsterdam QU 197? UNIVERSITEITSBIBLIOTHEEK LEIDEN 00563267 MODELLING THE PHONEME MODELLING THE PHONEME New trends in Fast European phonemic theory ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT TER VERKRÜGING VAN DE GRAAD VAN DOCTOR IN DE LETTEREN AAN DE UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM OP GEZAG VAN DE RECTOR MAGNIFICUS, DR. A. DE FROE, HOOGLERAAR IN DE FACULTEIT DER GENEESKUNDE, IN HEX OPENBAAR TE VERDEDIGEN IN DE AULA DER UNIVERSITEIT (TUDELIJK IN DE LUTHERSE KERK, INGANG SINGEL 411, HOEK SPUl) OP DINSDAG 30 MEI 1972, DES NAMIDDAGS TE 2.30 UUR DOOR FREDERIK HERMAN HENRI KORTLANDT geboren te Utrecht 1972 MOUTON THE HAGUE · PARIS PROMOTOR: PROF. DR. C.L. EBELING COREFERENT: PROF. DR. S.C. DIK SAMENVATTING Het doel van deze Studie is tweeledig. In de eerste plaats tracht ik een overzicht te geven van de recente ontwikkelingen van de fonologie in Oost-Europa. De nadruk ligt hierbij op mathematische en semi-mathematische modellen van het foneem. In de tweede plaats geef ik aan wat naar mijn mening de fundamentele problemen zijn in een sluitende fonologische theorie. Bijzondere aandacht wordt geschonken aan het feit dat een definitie van het foneem als een klasse spraakklanken niet in overeen- stemming is met het distinctiviteitsbeginsel. In het eerste hoofdstuk geef ik een kort overzicht van de Russische fonologie voor 1962. Het tweede hoofdstuk is een kritische uiteenzetting van de fonologische theorie van S.K. Saumjan. In het derde hoofdstuk behandel ik verzamelingentheo- retische modellen zoals die van I.I. Revzin en S. Marcus. Het vierde hoofdstuk is gewijd aan identificatiemodellen. In het vijfde hoofdstuk geef ik een uiteenzetting van het model van de logicus T. Batog. Het zesde en zevende hoofdstuk hebben betrekking op algemene problemen van linguistische methodologie, en het achtste betreft de linguistische aspekten van het foneembegrip. Het negende hoofdstuk gaat over optionele distincties en het tiende over configuratieve eigenschappen. Dedicated to the memory of N.S. Trubetzkoy PREFACE This study, which is submitted äs a doctoral thesis at the University of Amsterdam, has been accomplished under the inspiring guidance of Professor C.L. Ebeling. The opportunity to work with him has enabled me to draw heavily upon bis valuable insights and ample experience. I am most grateful to Professor A. H. Kuipers for his penetrating criticism of the manuscript. The stimulating discussions which we had together have greatly added to the value of this publication. I am also indebted to Professor S.C. Dik and Professor E.M. Uhlenbeck, and to my colleagues A.A. Barentsen, M.P.R. van den Broecke, N.S.H. Smith, H. Stein- hauer and W.A.L. Stokhof for reading the manuscript and commenting upon it. I thank Mrs. C.G. Blomhert for the copy editing and Miss A. Pols for the proof reading. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. P. de Ridder for the quick publi- cation of the book. F.H.H.K. February 8th, 1972 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 9 Abbreviations 14 Introduction 15 PART I THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODELS IN PHONEMICS 1. Russian phonemic theory before 1962 1.1. Baudouin de Courtenay 19 1.2. Scerba 20 1.3. Jakovlev 21 1.4. Trubetzkoy 21 1.5. The Moscow school of phonology 23 1.6. Thefifties 25 2. Saumjan's two-level model 2.1. Introduction 28 2.2. The antinomy of transposition 29 2.3. The identification antinomies 31 2.4. Saumjan's definition of the phoneme 33 2.5. The operator method of the paradigmatic identification of phonemes 35 2.6. Criticism 37 2.7. Social and individual variants 39 2.8. The operator method of the syntagmatic identification of phonemes 40 2.9. Criticism 41 2.10. Distinctive features 43 2.11. Prosodic features 44 3. Set-theoretical models 3.1. Introduction 46 3.2. The initial objects of Revzin's model 47 3.3. Revzin's definition of the phoneme 48 12 TABLB OF CONTENTS 3.4. A paradigmatic model . 51 3.5. Syntagmatic models 53 3.6. Phonetic and phonemic Systems 56 3.7. A fundamental hypothesis 59 3.8. Marcus' definition of the phoneme 61 3.9. Criticism 63 3.10. Nebesky's conception of relevant features 66 3.11. Graphic models 70 3.12. Kanger's model of the phoneme 71 3.13. Relations between models 72 4. Identification models 4.1. Introduction 76 4.2. The initial objects ofUspenskij's model 77 4.3. Identification rules 78 4.4. Uspenskij's definition of the phoneme 82 4.5. Beloozerov's model of the phoneme 83 4.6. Peterson and Harary 87 5. Batog's logical model 5.1. Introduction 91 5.2. Logical preliminaries 92 5.3. The initial objects of Batog's model 95 5.4. From phonetic chain to phonetic system 95 5.5. The distribution of sounds 99 5.6. Batog's definition of the phoneme 100 5.7. Criticism 103 5.8. The role of features 108 PART II FUNDAMENTALS OF PHONEMIC MODELLING 6. The use of mathematical methods in linguistics 6.1. The dehumanization of the study of language 113 6.2. Criticism 116 6.3. Conclusion 118 7. Models and modelling 7.1. Revzin's conception of modelling 120 7.2. Saumjan's conception of modelling 122 7.3. Apresjan's conception of modelling 124 7.4. Stoff's conception of modelling 126 7.5. Conclusion 129 TABLE OF CONTENTS 13 8. The phoneme 8.1. The motivation for taxonomic phonemics 131 8.2. Descriptive adequacy 133 8.3. Distinctiveness 135 8.4. Relevant features 137 8.5. Segmentation 140 8.6. Phonemic units 143 8.7. Identification 144 8.8. Uniqueness 147 8.9. Joint features 148 8.10. Conclusion. A characterization 150 9. Optional features and heavy phonemes 9.1. Phonemic overlapping 152 9.2. Phonemic interchange 154 9.3. Optional features and heavy phonemes 157 9.4. Theproof 161 9.5. Optional phonemes 162 9.6. Junctures 163 10. A note on configurational features 10.1. Inherent and configurational features 165 10.2. Relations between features 166 List of references 167 ABBREVIATIONS Am. American Bu. Bulgarian Ch. Chinese Cz. Czech Dan. Danish Du. Dutch Eng. English Fr. French Ge. German Gr. Greek It. Italian Jap. Japanese Li. Lithuanian Po. Polish Ru. Russian Rum. Rumanian SCr. Serbo-Croatian Skt. Sanskrit Sp. Spanish Sw. Swedish Tu. Turkish INTRODUCTION The purpose of the present study is twofold. Firstly, I will try to give a survey of the recent developments in phonemic theory that took place in Eastern Europe during the sixties. Emphasis is laid upon mathematical and semi-mathematical models of the phoneme. Since I am only concerned with theoretical phonemics in the present study, phonetic investigations remain out of the picture. Secondly, I will give an account of the problems which I regard äs fundamental in any consistent theory of phonemics. Special attention will be paid to the important but often neglected fact that a definition of the phoneme äs a class of speech sounds is incompatible with the principle of distinctiveness. Mathematical methods in linguistics fall into two classes, quantitative and non- quantitative. Quantitative methods are not discussed in the present theory-oriented study. This is a consequence of the fact that no linguistically relevant features are of the continuous-scale type (cf. Hockett 1955: 17). The mathematical disciplines that are relevant for THEORETICAL linguistics are, above all, algebra, set theory, and logic. However, only the most elementary notions from these disciplines play a part at the present stage in the development of linguistics. Mathematical concepts are introduced gradually in the course of this book in order to make the topics under discussion accessible to scholars without any previous training in mathematics. Formal definitions of basic mathematical concepts have been deferred to section 5.2. The only parts of the book where more mathematical sophistication than ordinary common sense is required are sections 3.10 and 5.4-5.6. I have purposely minimized the number of formulas in the second part of the book. In the first chapter I give a brief survey of Russian phonemic theory before 1962. The only aim of this chapter is to outline the background of the new developments in Soviet linguistics during the sixties. It is shown how all of the three main trends in phonemic thought, represented in Russian linguistics by Scerba, Jakovlev, and Trubetskoy, essentially go back to Baudouin de Courtenay, and how they finally stood with regard to each other. The second chapter is an exposition and discussion of S.K. Saumjan's two-level theory, which has hitherto found hardly any response outside the Soviet Union. Attention is focused on the paradigmatic and syntagmatic identification of phonemes, which I regard äs the main problem in phonemic theory. 16 INTRODUCTION In the third chapter I give an account of the set-theoretical models that have been proposed for various aspects of phonemic analysis. The main part of the chapter is devoted to the theories that have been put forward by I.I. Revzin and S. Marcus, who are the leading theoreticians on language models in Eastern Europe. Among the other models that are discussed in this chapter are some important contributions by L. Nebesky and S. Kanger. Here, äs well äs in the subsequent chapters, consi- derable attention is paid to the initial objects of the models under discussion and to the formal definitions of the phoneme. The models discussed in the third chapter are characterized by a lack of interest in and explicitness about the identification problem. This is why I have devoted the fourth chapter to models that are primarily concerned with the identification of phonemic units.
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