Commutation test in action: Establishing the French consonantal phonematic system

Resumen

I demonstrate in this paper how, in my own view, the commutation test in functional phonology may best be performed with a view to identifying the phonological contents (in terms of relevant features) of the French consonantal phonematic units, i.e. both the phonemes and the archiphonemes. The concept of ‘opposition’ is borne in mind and applied throughout the commutation test. At the initial stage, a number of commutative series are set up which are associated with different phonetic contexts. During the whole course of the commutation test, recourse is had to the concepts of ‘orders’, ‘series’ and ‘(bundle of) correlation(s)’. The commutation test is conducted step by step until the phonological contents of all French consonant phonemes are identified and the consonant phoneme system will have emerged in its entirety. There follows the analytical operation whereby the instances of neutralization of certain consonant phoneme oppositions are found together with the identification of the phonological contents of the associated archiphonemes. At the end of the commutation test all the consonantal phonematic units of French will have been established.