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Phonemes are unilateral (one-sided), i.e. they carry no meaning of their own (in contrast to words as units of the semantic level, that can have a meaning even when they are pronounced in isolation). The “phonemes” [b] and [p] mean nothing when they are not used in words. But they can differentiate two meanings (become semiologically relevant) in words (e.g.“bill” and “pill”). Phonemes in words become semiologically relevant (are used to express a meaning). The category of semiological relevance is the most important category of phonology. Phoneticians make a conclusion that the phoneme is a unity of three aspects: 1. the material aspect, because in speech it is represented by concrete material sounds; 2. the abstracted aspect, because it is a generalization, abstracted from its variants that exist in actual speech; 3. the functional aspect, because it functions to make one word or grammar form distinct from the other (e.g. said-says, sleeper-sleepy, light, like).

The theory of phoneme was first expounded by Baudouin de Courtenay,

professor of the Kazan University in the 1880s. In his treatise “On the Comparative

Study of the Grammar of Slavonic Languages” he clearly defined the difference

between a phoneme and a speech sound. He treated a phoneme as a semantically

differentiating unit, and a speech sound as an anthropophonic unit of speech, not

connected with any meaning. This differentiation proved to be highly fruitful and

made it possible to establish mutual relations between the sound and the phoneme.

Baudouin de Courtenay went on developing the theory of phoneme in his “Versuch

einer Theorie der Phonetischen Alternationen” (1917) and other works.

The theory of the phoneme was further developed by L.V. Shcherba. He

studied the theory in his «Русские гласные в качественном и количественном

отношении» published in 1912 In this book he defined the phoneme as the smallest

general phonetic unit of a given language which can be associated with sense notions

and can differentiate words.

In 1955 in his book devoted to phonetics of the French language, L.V.

Shcherba wrote that in the spoken language a much greater number of various sounds

are pronounced than we usually think and these sounds in every given language unite

to form a system of a comparatively small number of sound types capable of

differentiating words and their forms, that is, capable of serving the purposes of

human intercourse. Such sounds he called phonemes.

Developing the theory of the phoneme L.V. Shcherba comes to the conclusion

of the social nature of the phoneme as a speech sound used by people in their

intercourse. For a number of years there were two main trends in linguistics concerning the concept of the phoneme. One of them was headed by Leningrad linguists, the

followers of L.V. Shcherba (Mатусевич M.C., 1951; Зиндер Л.Р., 1960). The second

trend comprised the representatives of the so-called Moscow phonological school

(Яковлев Р.Ф., Кузнецов П.С., Реформацкий A.A., Сидоров В.Н., Аванесов Р.И.

and others).

The main difference between the schools was in their conception of the

phoneme. The followers of L.V. Shcherba proceeded from the word, while Moscow

linguists proceeded from the morpheme. These different points of view determined

their treatment of the phoneme, their understanding of the phonetic system as a

whole.

R.I. Avanesov (1956) pointed out that the two theories were correct and

compatible, as they reflect different language facts. Accordingly, he suggested

distinguishing two notions – “phoneme” and “phonematic family”.

L.R. Zinder in his General Phonetics (1960) further developed the teaching of

the variants of the phoneme, the problem of phonematic structure and other problems,

and supported R.I. Avanesov’s notion of the “phonematic family”.

In the 1950s a new theory of the phoneme was suggested by S.K. Shaumyan

«Двухступенчатая теория фонем», 1952

All these theories developed many complicated questions of the phoneme but

the problem has not been solved yet. Many points need strict proof and completion.

The theory of the phoneme was also being treated by many linguists abroad. It

was investigated by the scientists of “The Prague Linguistic Circle” (Trubetskoy

N.S., 1929; Якобсон Р., Халле М., 1962). Some foreign linguists (Sapier E.,

Twaddell W.F.) treated the phoneme apart from its real sound value. As a result the

real

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