Some notes on phonemes and allophones in synchronic and diachronic descriptions

A review of the traditional procedures in analysing phones leads to the conclusion that in some cases it is the systemic distinctions and not the lexical context which are decisive in establishing phonemes. The phoneme should therefore be defined as the smallest phonological unit which is contrastive at a lexical level and/or distinctive at a systemic level. It is further argued that a new phone can acquire phonemic status when it becomes distinctive in the phonological system of the language irrespective of the context in which it occurs at a lexical level.