total accountability

A principle of LINGUISTIC analysis, introduced into STRUCTURALIST discussion in the 1940s, whereby everything that is stated at one LEVEL of DESCRIPTION is predictable from another. The principle is presented with reference to the relationship between PHONOLOGY and MORPHOLOGY: every MORPH (and thus every PHONEME) must be capable of being determined by the morphemes and TAGMEMES of which an UTTERANCE is composed. Notions such as EMPTY and PORTMANTEAU morphs require special discussion in relation to this principle.