Definitions for Common Linguistic Units
1) Phoneme: a minimal unit of sound; one might say that phonemes are primitive insofar as they're irreducible to other units. An example is b, I, t in the word, "bit." However, phonemes must not be confused with letters--they are more about variations in sound. See https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/computers-and-electrical-engineering/computers-and-computing/phoneme
2) Morpheme: a minimal unit of meaning, and one may distinguish between free and bound morphemes. The word "unhappiness" has three morphemes: un, happi, ness. See https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100210358
3) Graphemes: a minimal unit of writing; also defined as "a written symbol that is used to represent speech." Some writers stress the contrastive element of graphmes: see https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-grapheme-1690916
4) Lexemes: a fundamental and abstract lexical unit of a language. An example is the English lexeme, RUN, whose forms are run, runs, ran, and running. See https://dbpedia.org/page/Lexeme
5) Sememes: the fundamental unit of meaning that a morpheme bears. In the word, "doer," -er is the sememe; the pluralizing unit of meaning -s is another sememe (e.g., doers, writers, linguists).
Sporadic theological and historical musings by Edgar Foster (Ph.D. in Theology and Religious Studies and one of Jehovah's Witnesses).
Showing posts with label phonemes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phonemes. Show all posts
Monday, November 22, 2021
Lexical Units Anyone?
Labels:
linguistics,
morphemes,
morphology,
phonemes,
phonology
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Pronouncing Pneuma
I would not say that it's wrong to pronounce πνεῦμα without the 'p,' (i.e., "neuma"); it's more a matter of linguistic convention and illustrates how phonemes come to be pronounced in another language. A variety of English dictionaries include pneuma--you can see their pronunciation schemes here:
https://www.onelook.com/?w=pneuma&ls=a
For example, Merriam-Webster has ˈnü-mə for pneuma. Other works give comparable ways of pronouncing the word.
However, when it comes to the Greek, William Mounce writes:
See https://www.billmounce.com/greekvocabulary/%CF%80%CE%BD%CE%B5%E1%BF%A6%CE%BC%CE%B1
Either way, I'm not going to castigate or flog anyone who pronounces pneuma without the labial voiceless plosive.
https://www.onelook.com/?w=pneuma&ls=a
For example, Merriam-Webster has ˈnü-mə for pneuma. Other works give comparable ways of pronouncing the word.
However, when it comes to the Greek, William Mounce writes:
Remember, in Greek there are no silent consonants, so the pi is pronounced; unlike in English where, for example, the "p" is not pronounced in the word, "pneumatic."
See https://www.billmounce.com/greekvocabulary/%CF%80%CE%BD%CE%B5%E1%BF%A6%CE%BC%CE%B1
Either way, I'm not going to castigate or flog anyone who pronounces pneuma without the labial voiceless plosive.
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