distribution (n.)

A general term used in LINGUISTICS to refer to the total set of linguistic CONTEXTS, or ENVIRONMENTS, in which a UNIT (such as a PHONEME, a MORPHEME or a WORD) can occur. Every linguistic unit, it is said, has a characteristic distribution. A distributional analysis would plot the places in larger linguistic units where smaller units occur, such as the distribution of phonemes within a SYLLABLE or word, or of words within a SENTENCE. Distributional ideas were originally developed in PHONOLOGY, but were later extended to other linguistic units. In some approaches, the notion of distribution became a major explanatory principle, being seen as a possible way of grouping sounds into phonemes without reference to the meaning or grammatical properties of the words in which they appear – or even to the PHONETIC similarities existing between them. On this basis, for instance, [h] and  in English might be considered members of the same phoneme, because they never share the same set of environments. In phonemic phonology, the most important continuing use of the term is in the phrase complementary distribution, which refers to the status of related sounds (or ALLOPHONES) when they are found in mutually exclusive environments, as in the use of a DENTAL v. an ALVEOLAR allophone of /t/ in English, e.g. eight v. eighth. (In GENERATIVE phonology, on the other hand, distributional statements of this kind are handled by a formulation in terms of phonological RULES.)

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

قسم صناعة الشبابيك يشرع بإدامة شباكين قديمين لمرقد الإمامين العسكريين (عليهما السلام)

فرقة العباس (عليه السلام) تختتم خدماتها المقدمة للزائرين في سامراء

موكب العتبتين المقدستين يحيي ذكرى استشهاد الإمام الهادي (عليه السلام) في سامراء

العتبة العسكرية المقدسة تكرّم وفد العتبة العباسية المقدسة لمشاركته في تقديم الخدمات للزائرين

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

كنز غذائي على طبقك.. ماذا تفعل السبانخ بجسمك؟

ما لا يتوقعه أحد.. "سر غذائي" في الجبن الدسم

لتحسين الهضم والنوم.. هذا أفضل وقت لتناول العشاء

10 طرق بسيطة وغير مألوفة لحرق المزيد من السعرات يوميا

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

سابقة بعالم الطيران.. طائرة تقرر الهبوط بنفسها بعد ظرف طارئ

"الإنفلونزا الخارقة" تكتسح دول العالم.. وتثير قلقا كبيرا

مرحلة ما قبل الأعراض.. دواء جديد يستهدف "شرارة" الزهايمر

إزالة ثاني أكسيد الكربون من الغلاف الجوي.. ما دور المحيطات والبحار؟

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Constituent structure

A typology of word structure

Analyzing position classes

Representing word structure

Different kinds of morphemes

Morphemes Definition of “morpheme”

Analyzing word structure

Mirror in nominal morphology

Appendix 2: Hapax legomena from the Cobuild corpus

Appendix 1: 20th century neologisms from the OED

Morphological Productivity Structural Constraints in English Derivation Conclusion

Verbal derivation and the separation hypothesis