Linguistics Encyclopedia.pdf

A-Z 199
not only contrastively but also demarcatively. An accent in Swahili always falls on the
last but one syllable of the accentual unit which corresponds to a word, so that the
occurrence of the accent shows that the following word begins with the second syllable
after the accented syllable. Likewise, an accent in Finnish, which is a fixed accent always
falling on the initial syllable of the accentual unit that corresponds to a word, reveals that
the word boundary occurs between the accented syllable and the preceding syllable. Of
course, a free accent (i.e. one which is not fixed) can only function contrastively and not
demarcatively as well.
7 The expressive function, whereby speakers convey to listeners their state of mind
(real or feigned) without resorting to the use of an additional moneme or monemes. For
example, a speaker of English may say ‘That tree is eNNNormous’, overlengthening /n/
and employing an exaggerated high fall pitch over -nor-, instead of saying ‘That tree is
absolutely enormous’ or ‘That tree is tremendously enormous’, employing the additional
monemes absolute and ly, or tremendous and ly. The specific suprasegmental phonic
elements just mentioned fulfil the expressive function in that they indicate the speakers’
admiration, surprise, etc., at the size of the tree in question. It should be noted in this
connection that intonation pre-eminently fulfils the expressive function in which pitch
phenomena are exploited expressively, i.e. speakers express definiteness or lack of
definiteness, certainty or uncertainty, etc., in their minds about what they predicate.
The above are some major functions of phonic elements (there are other, minor, ones)
that are identified in various languages. They are all recognized as major functions, but it
is possible to establish a hierarchy of functions in terms of their relative importance from
a functional point of view. For example, Trubetzkoy (1969, p. 28) says that the distinctive
function is indispensable and far more important than the culminative and deliminative
functions, which are expedient but dispensable; all functionalists agree with him on this
point.
It has been pointed out (see paragraph 4 above) that the distinctive function derives
directly from the concept of phonological opposition and that the distinctive function is
fulfilled by a phoneme, an archiphoneme, a tone or an architone. As mentioned above,
the distinctive function is considered to be by far the most important function, and in
what follows we shall be exclusively concerned with some aspects of functional
phonology which are relevant to this function.
It is crucial to understand that, in functional phonology, the concept of phonological
opposition is primary, while the concept of the phoneme is secondary; without a
phonological opposition, phonemes are inconceivable and inadmissible; the concept of
the phoneme derives its validity from the fact that phonemes are members of a
phonological opposition. The concept of phonological opposition is thus at the centre of
functional phonology.
A phoneme or an archiphoneme is a sum of phonologically relevant features—
relevant features for short—which themselves fulfil the distinctive function. (Relevant
features should not be confused with distinctive features as employed in generative
phonology—see DISTINCTIVE FEATURES.) For example, the English monemes bark
and mark, or park and mark, are distinguished from each other by virtue of the opposition
between /b/ and /m/, or between /p/ and /m/. Furthermore, /b/ and /m/, or /p/ and /m/, are
distinguished from each other because of the opposition between the relevant features
‘non-nasal’ and ‘nasal’. An opposition between phonemes, between phonemes and