Constructing A Universal Phonological System From Distinctive Properties To Distinctive Features: A Comparative Study Of Trubetzkoyan And Jakobsonian Phonology

As core figures and founders in the phonology of Prague School,Trubetzkoy and Jakobson put forward and developed most of their phonological thoughts in collaboration with other members.And their intellectual partnership later became the driving force and the core of statement in Prague School.Previous studies on phonology always find that it is hard to distinguish Trubetzkoy and Jakobson‘s phonological thoughts and contributions in phonology,but they disagree in terms of research specifics.One of the most essential is whether the smallest units of distinguishing meaning are phonemes or distinctive features.Furthermore,Jakobson‘s distinctive feature theory has always been regarded as the most significant accomplishments.The previous study on this theory mainly concentrates on its sources,theoretical foundations and essential characteristics,but few studies are carried out on the comparison between Trubetzkoy‘s and Jakobson‘s phonological properties and the inheritance between their own properties.Therefore,the present study is aimed to make a comparison between their phonological thoughts,then find out their inheritance and finally distinguish their outstanding contributions on phonology.Apart from a meticulous analysis of Trubetzkoyan and Jakobsonian works on phonology,the present study adopts Koerner‘s research method of linguistic historiography and the method of integrated use of multilingual texts to compare the phonological properties between Trubetzkoy and Jakobson to discover their differences and limitations in Trubetzkoy‘s distinctive properties.Then it explores the reasons why these properties cannot become universal to be applied to describe most languages of the world as well as how Jakobson deals with those limitations to develop his own distinctive feature theory and makes it mature so as to build up a universal phonological system.Here are the research findings.Firstly,the present study shows that although Trubetzkoy always held the belief that phonemes were the smallest and indivisible phonological units and denied the role of distinctive phonological properties in distinguishing two sounds with unlike meanings,the properties as the smaller units were manifested in his classification of distinctive oppositions;however,Trubetzkoy didn‘t make them systemic.What‘s more,the multilateral opposition in vocalic and consonantal distinctive properties held back Trubetzkoy from constructing a system of binary opposition.And then Jakobson‘s earliest attempt at three distinctive features not only deals with Trubetzkoy‘s multilateral oppositions between consonantal properties of localization by resolving them into a set of distinctive features in binary oppositions,but also lays the fundamental basis for a more mature distinctive feature system.Secondly,since Trubetzkoy adopted different criteria to describe these properties and analyzed the oppositions between them in specific languages,a large number of bilateral oppositions and a few multilateral oppositions popped out,but he did not reduce the number of distinctive properties into its minimum and make these properties universal.In order to address this problem,Jakobson made his efforts to utilize six distinctive features in the analysis of vocalic and consonantal properties of specific languages,but the existence of joint features or complexes rendered the phonemes not in strictly binary opposition.Thirdly,lack of technical vehicles pushed Trubetzkoy to adopt the traditional method to describe vocalic and consonantal properties.And since his book Grundzüge der Phonologie is a posthumous writing,some statements on key issues remain to be refined and modified.Since the 1940 s,the development of electronic devices and information theory have propelled Jakobson to provide features with acoustic and articulatory definition,which not only eliminated previous complexes and made distinctive feature system completely binary,but also reduced the number of distinctive features into its minimum so that a universal phonological system was built up.To put it in a nutshell,the present study has both theoretical and practical significance.It not only enhances the understanding of Trubetzkoy‘s phonological properties,but also enriches the related studies on Jakobson‘s distinctive feature theory and is of great value to grasp the correlation of phonological thoughts between Trubetzkoy and Jakobson.