| Segment (linguistics) |
Index for Segment |
Information AboutSegment (linguistics) |
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In spoken languages, a segment may be a Consonant , Vowel , Tone , or Stress . It is not clear whether Sign Language s have equivalent segments. In Phonetics , the smallest perceptible segment is a Phone . In Phonology , there is a subfield of Segmental Phonology . It deals with the analysis of speech into Phoneme s (or ''segmental phonemes''), which correspond fairly well to phonetic segments of the analysed speech. A word of caution, though, must be taken when analyzing the inventory of segmental units in any given Language . Some segments may be simply ''marginal'' segments. This is the case with onomatopoeic words, or with loan words, where sounds exist only in a few specific words, but are not generally found throughout the entire language. In fact, onomatopoeic words and especially loan words are often the source of new segments being accepted into the general phonology of a language. References David Crystal, ''A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics'', Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Info at Google Print . Gussenhoven & Jacobs, "Understanding Phonology", Arnold Publishers, 1998. |