phonème

Forms

phonème m (plural phonèmes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound of the voice, utterance”), a word also borrowed in imperial times as Latin phonema.^[2][3][4][5] The Greek noun comes from φωνέω (phōnéō, “to make a sound, speak”), from φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound, voice”).^[3][4][6] The French word was first recorded in 1873.^[2][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1873 in the Revue critique d'histoire et de littérature, meaning an articulated sound, a sound element of speech.^[2][3] Littré defines it in the same way, as any articulated sound, vowel or consonant.^[9]

Semantic evolution

At first the word was a term of phonetics: a speech sound described by how it is articulated and how it is heard, the sense in which Saussure still used it in 1916.^[2][4] The modern phonological sense, the smallest unit that distinguishes one word from another in a given language, had its roots in the work of linguists such as Whitney and Saussure and took shape in French in 1929, in the Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague.^[4][2][3]

Linguists drew from phonème a suffix -ème, with which they formed morphème and similar terms.^[7] The adjective phonémique followed about 1950.^[4] English took the word as phoneme, recorded from 1889.^[10]

Timeline

• 1873 – First record, in the Revue critique d'histoire et de littérature, for a speech sound.^[2][3]
• 1889 – English borrows it as phoneme.^[10]
• 1929 – The Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague use it for the minimal phonological unit.^[2][3][4]
• c. 1950 – The adjective phonémique appears.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (linguistics) A phoneme, the smallest distinctive unit of sound of a language, which on its own or with others forms and distinguishes words.^{[11][12][13][14]}
2. (traditional phonetics) A speech sound considered from the point of view of its articulation and its acoustics.^[2][3]
3. (pathology) An auditory hallucination in which the patient hears voices.^[11][6]

Word family

• phonémique
• phonématique

Related words

• phonétique
• phonologie
• morphème
• Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma)
• English phoneme

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 398a
6. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
14. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale