In linguistics,double articulation,duality of patterning, orduality[1] is the fundamental language phenomenon consisting of the use of combinations of a small number of meaningless elements (sounds, that is,phonemes) to produce a large number of meaningful elements (words, actuallymorphemes).[1] Its name refers to this two-level structure inherent tosign systems, many of which are composed of these two kinds of elements: 1) distinctive but meaningless and 2) significant or meaningful.
It is one ofHockett's design features.
Double articulation[2] refers to the twofold structure of the stream of speech, which can be primarily divided intomeaningful signs (like words ormorphemes), and then secondarily intodistinctive elements (like sounds orphonemes). For example, the meaningful English word "cat" is composed of the sounds /k/, /æ/, and /t/, which are meaningless as separate individual sounds (and which can also be combined to form the separate words "tack" and "act", with distinct meanings). These sounds, calledphonemes, represent the secondary and lowest level of articulation in the hierarchy of the organization of speech. Higher, primary, levels of organization (includingmorphology,syntax, andsemantics) govern the combination of these individually meaningless phonemes into meaningful elements.
The French concept ofdouble articulation was first introduced byAndré Martinet in 1949, and elaborated in hisÉléments de linguistique générale (1960).[3] The English translation[4]double articulation is a Frenchcalque fordouble articulation (spelled exactly the same in French). It may also be termedduality of patterning.
"Duality of patterning" was proposed by American linguistCharles F. Hockett in a 1958 textbookA course in modern linguistics.[5] The two terms are similar but different, and Hockett and Martinet proposed their concepts independently. Both of them were probably inspired by Danish linguistLouis Hjelmslev's theory of "two planes" of human language. Hjelmslev proposed that human languages have two kinds of planes: planes ofplereme ("fullness" in Greek) and planes ofceneme ("emptiness" in Greek). The planes ofplereme contain meaningful units, and the planes ofceneme contain meaningless units that make up the meaningful units. For example, thecenemes of spoken language are phonemes, while thepleremes are morphemes or words; thecenemes of alphabetic writing are the letters and thepleremes are the words.[6]
Sign languages may have less double articulation because more gestures are possible than sound and able to convey more meaning without double articulation.[7]
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