The Phonemic/Phonetic Inventory or Language Interactions Table (LIT)

• Tool used by linguists and SLPs to document the distinctive sound units (phonemes) that carry meaning in a specific language.

• Tables or venn diagrams that display characteristic sound patterns of a ('standard' form of a) language - 

  • The 'formalized' version of the language featured is the one used for the tables (e.g., for Spanish PPIs, Peninsular -or Castillian - Spanish is featured; in English, it's 'standardized or mainstream' English. Other forms or varieties are compared with this version.

• How it is Useful

  • Aids in 'contrastive analysis' or the type of linguistic operation that compares and finds differences between (usually English) and another language.

  • Helpful in keeping cross-language biases in check (e.g., ensuring there is no overidentification due to 'differences')

• How it is in need of Refinement

  • Does not eliminate myths or ideas about the existence of a 'standard language' - meaning, standardized version of (English) is still the center of comparison (see copy below of the sampled IPPs in ASHA website)

  • Fails to capture dynamic dialect or regional varieties/ or community/individual variation (idiolects) or makes assumptions about 'dialects' based on ideas of national or geographic borders 

    • For example, a phonetic inventory may suggest that 'Puerto Ricans from outside of San Juan commonly articulate “rr” with a /j/ (arroz >ajoz; carro>cajo)

    • However this assumes everyone outside of San Juan has no exposure to the patterns in other varieties prevalent in the nation. What if the person does not use this feature in their español?

• How it can be Re-imagined:

  • Compilation of a phonetic inventory from observing the multilingual communicators  themselves who are being screened or evaluated. Phonetic Inventory incorporates in a table all speech sounds a person can produce, including those registered as 'native' or 'nonnative' sounds.