Further on minimal pairs 1 [was Re: PIE e/o Ablaut]

[Stefan Georg]

[ moderator changed Subject: header ]

>[PR]
>Essentially, I agree with you.

>Rightly or wrongly, however, I favor basically Trask's definition with
>qualifications: "the smallest unit which can make a difference in meaning";
>the qualification being that I take 'meaning', which Trask does not define
>in the same place,  as a difference in concept not in inflection. I would
>say that 'sooth/soothe' does not establish /dh/ as an English phoneme but
>that 'ether/either' does.

Maybe one of the broadest definitions of "meaning" states that
elements said to have different "meanings" are used in different
"contexts". Referential, situational, syntactic, you name it.
Different inflections are used in different contexts, so they
constitute minimal pairs and they are routinely used to pin down the
phonemes of languages. I won't use sooth and soothe in the same
contexts (or "frames" if you like), so this example is sufficient to
establish the phonemic status of /dh/.
If you don't like "meaning" here, insert "function".
--
Dr. Stefan Georg
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