# Double articulation

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Fundamental principle of linguistics

Not to be confused with [Coarticulation](/source/Coarticulation) or [Doubly articulated consonant](/source/Doubly_articulated_consonant).

In linguistics, **double articulation**, **duality of patterning**, or **duality**[1] is the fundamental language phenomenon consisting of the use of combinations of a small number of meaningless elements (sounds, that is, [phonemes](/source/Phoneme)) to produce a large number of meaningful elements (words, actually [morphemes](/source/Morpheme)).[1] Its name refers to this two-level structure inherent to [sign systems](/source/Sign_system), many of which are composed of these two kinds of elements: 1) distinctive but meaningless and 2) significant or meaningful.

It is one of [Hockett's design features](/source/Hockett's_design_features).

## Theory

*Double articulation*[2] refers to the twofold structure of the stream of speech, which can be primarily divided into *meaningful* signs (like words or [morphemes](/source/Morphemes)), and then secondarily into *distinctive* elements (like sounds or [phonemes](/source/Phonemes)). 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, called [phonemes](/source/Phonemes), represent the secondary and lowest level of articulation in the hierarchy of the organization of speech. Higher, primary, levels of organization (including [morphology](/source/Morphology_(linguistics)), [syntax](/source/Syntax), and [semantics](/source/Semantics)) govern the combination of these individually meaningless phonemes into meaningful elements.

## History

The French concept of *double articulation* was first introduced by [André Martinet](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Martinet) in 1949, and elaborated in his *Éléments de linguistique générale* (1960).[3] The English translation[4] *double articulation* is a French [calque](/source/Calque) for *double articulation* (spelled exactly the same in French). It may also be termed *duality of patterning*.

"Duality of patterning" was proposed by American linguist [Charles F. Hockett](/source/Charles_F._Hockett) in a 1958 textbook *A 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 linguist [Louis Hjelmslev](/source/Louis_Hjelmslev)'s theory of "two planes" of human language. Hjelmslev proposed that human languages have two kinds of planes: planes of *plereme* ("fullness" in Greek) and planes of *ceneme* ("emptiness" in Greek). The planes of *plereme* contain meaningful units, and the planes of *ceneme* contain meaningless units that make up the meaningful units. For example, the *cenemes* of spoken language are phonemes, while the *pleremes* are morphemes or words; the *cenemes* of alphabetic writing are the letters and the *pleremes* are the words.[6]

[Sign languages](/source/Sign_language) may have less double articulation because more gestures are possible than sound and able to convey more meaning without double articulation.[7]

## See also

- [Origin of language](/source/Origin_of_language)

- [Origin of speech](/source/Origin_of_speech)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-trask1_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-trask1_1-1) [Trask, R.L.](/source/Larry_Trask) (1999). *Language: the basics*. [Routledge](/source/Routledge). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-415-20089-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-20089-X).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Occasionally also "double segmentation".

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Martinet, André (1960). *Éléments de linguistique générale* (1st ed.). Colin. Revised edition: Martinet, André (2008). [*Éléments de linguistique générale*](http://worldcat.org/oclc/942996561) (5th ed.). Colin. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9782200354473](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9782200354473). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [942996561](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/942996561).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Martinet, André (1964). *Elements of General Linguistics*. Translated by Elisabeth Palmer. Faber & Faber. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780571090792](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780571090792). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Hockett, Charles Francis 1916-2000 (1970). [*A course in modern linguistics*](http://worldcat.org/oclc/1072556808). Macmillan. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [1072556808](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1072556808).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_numeric_names:_authors_list))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Ladd, D. Robert (December 2012). ["What is duality of patterning, anyway?"](https://dx.doi.org/10.1515/langcog-2012-0015). *Language and Cognition*. **4** (4): 261–273. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1515/langcog-2012-0015](https://doi.org/10.1515%2Flangcog-2012-0015). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1866-9808](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1866-9808). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [147433105](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:147433105).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Sedivy, Julie (22 September 2014). ["The Unusual Language That Linguists Thought Couldn't Exist"](http://nautil.us/blog/the-unusual-language-that-linguists-thought-couldnt-exist). *Nautilus*. Retrieved 23 September 2014.

## External links

- Wendy Sandler et alii, ["The gradual emergence of phonological form in a new language"](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/512d/586997ffcdd35d5e0b1d69e9f40fc282e9f1.pdf), 2009.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Double articulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_articulation) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_articulation?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.