discreteness (n.)

A suggested defining property of human LANGUAGE (contrasting with the properties of other SEMIOTIC SYSTEMS), whereby the ELEMENTS of a signal can be analyzed as having definable boundaries, with no gradation or continuity between them. A system lacking discreteness is said to be ‘continuous’ or non-discrete. The term is especially used in PHONETICS and PHONOLOGY to refer to sounds which have relatively clear-cut boundaries, as defined in ACOUSTIC, ARTICULATORY or AUDITORY terms. It is evident that speech is a continuous stream of sound, but speakers of a language are able to SEGMENT this continuum into a finite number of discrete UNITS, these usually corresponding to the PHONEMES of the language. The boundaries of these units may correspond to identifiable acoustic or articulatory features, but often they do not. The minimal discrete units in phonetics are known as PHONES.