Adjoint trait

Adjoint feature (Latin adiungere = "to add") is a term coined by Noam Chomsky for certain features of linguistic signs. These features are irrelevant for distinguishing one sign from another or for understanding it. They are not distinctive , but redundant , that is, superfluous.

Examples

Among other things, the German and English are unvoiced plosives (plosives) - as [⁠ p ⁠] , [⁠ t ⁠] or [⁠ k ⁠] - always in predetermined positions aspirated . However, aspiration, i.e. the breath of air after the plosive, does not distinguish between two sounds. It is common in these two languages, but irrelevant to the meaning of the word whether an unvoiced plosive is aspirated or not. The aspiration is thus an adjoint feature that makes it easier to distinguish between voiced and unvoiced plosives, although this does not depend on them alone. In other languages, such as Korean , Thai or Sindhi , aspiration alone can distinguish two words from one another.

literature

• Noam Chomsky: Aspects of the theory of syntax. MIT Press, Cambridge / Massachusetts 1965.
  • Translation: Aspects of Syntax Theory. From the American by Ewald Lang u. a. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1969. ISBN 3-518-27642-5 (4th edition, 1987)
• Helmut Glück (Ed.), With the collaboration of Friederike Schmöe : Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 3rd, revised edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2005, ISBN 3-476-02056-8 .