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360 phatic communion
during which the vocal organs move towards their next articulation, overlapping
with the onset phase of that sound.
(3) In acoustic phonetics, phase is part of the description of the waveforms
that constitute speech. A ‘wave’ is a disturbance from equilibrium which propagates
in time from one place to another. Speech waveforms can be decomposed
into a number of waves of a regularly repeating kind (‘sine waves’), described
with reference to their amplitude, frequency and time. When sine waves start
at different degrees of displacement from the source, they are said to display
differences in phase.
(4) In the minimalist programme, a phase is a unit in a derivation that
operates as an independent piece of syntactic structure. The derivation of a
sentence takes place phase by phase, and syntactic operations apply to phases as
wholes and not to parts of them (apart from elements operating at phase edges).
Once it is complete, it is transferred to phonetic form and logical form, and
thus becomes inaccessible for further operations (the phase impenetrability condition).
The notion of phase is similar to that of cycle in earlier transformational
grammar.
phatic communion A term introduced by the anthropologist Bronislaw
Malinowski (1884–1942) and used subsequently by many linguists to refer
to language used for establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact
rather than for exchanging information or ideas (e.g. comments on the
weather, or enquiries about health). Phatic language (or the phatic function of
language) is of particular relevance to the sociolinguistic analysis of linguistic
functions.
phi features (ϕ) A term used in government-binding theory and the
minimalist programme for grammatical features such as person, number,
gender and case. For example, AGR (see agreement) can be described as a set
of phi features.
philology (n.) The traditional term for the study of language history, as
carried on by comparative philologists since the late eighteenth century. The
study of literary texts is also sometimes included within the term (though not in
Britain), as is the study of texts as part of cultural, political, etc., research.
philosophical linguistics A little-developed branch of linguistics which studies,
on the one hand, the role of language in relation to the understanding and
elucidation of philosophical concepts, and, on the other hand, the philosophical
status of linguistic theories, methods and observations. When these topics are
studied by philosophers, rather than linguists, the terms linguistic philosophy
and the philosophy of language are used. When the term ‘philosophical’ is used
in association with the various fields of linguistic enquiry, a contrast is usually
intended with ‘linguistic’, e.g. ‘philosophical grammar’ (i.e. notional, as
opposed to descriptive grammar), ‘philosophical semantics’ (which includes
such matters as the truth and validity of propositions, normally taken for
granted by linguistic semantics).
philosophical semantics
see semantics