Phoneme vs sound in the articulation disorders: untangling strings

Abstract

In Linguistics, according to Jakobson (1977), “sound” is considered to be a phonic substance, while “phoneme” is a term that leads to the idea of distinctiveness – it has no value in itself. However, in Speech-Language Pathology, “sound” and “phoneme” are frequently considered to be synonyms, and consequently, their use is interchangeable. This pre-theoretical approach to Linguistics’ concepts has a direct influence on the Articulation Disorders therapy – language therapists, for example, have no constraint in indicating “phoneme installation” procedures. For this reason, I intend to discuss how Phonetic – Pathology’s ideas and concepts are dealt with in the Speech-Language Pathology, mainly in Articulation Disorders research.