The Principle of Assimilation in Phonemics

Segmental Phonemes Versus Distinctive Features in English

“…There are articulatory and acoustic parameters which by their presence or absence or by their strength or weakness and in particular by their changes describe the perceptive features ASSOCIATED with differences of meaning between word pairs like 3 See L. Bloomfield, 1927. 4 Similarly S. Hattori (1967) writes: "If we mean by 'phonetic' not something phonemic but something purely objective or physical, then phones are not phonetic units but pseudophonemic ones." But he shrinks from the logical conclusion that both phonetic and phonemic transcriptions participate in the vicious circle and that it is therefore impossible to base a phonological analysis on a phonetic transcription.…”