On the Origins of the Term Phoneme
Hitherto unknown works by Antoni Dufriche-Desgenettes (1804–1878) show that he used the term phonème earlier than assumed until now: the word is attested in manuscripts of March 1865 but the publication of the first article in which it occurs was apparently delayed until 1868. Possibly, Dufriche did not “invent” the expression himself but borrowed it, at least indirectly, from the Bulgarian philosopher Petăr Beron (c. 1799–1871), who had used it several years previously for the sound aspect of a word. This usage may also be the reason why some later authors applied the term phonème to sound sequences.
Archival materials
17. I am most grateful to Jean Leclant, Secrétaire perpétuel de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, for granting me permission to use these materials and to Piero d’Houin for his generosity in locating the documents, providing me with photographs and allowing me to reproduce them.
AIBL 7 avril 1865: Archives de l’Institut de France (Paris), Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, séance du 7 avril 1865 (unfoliated). No. 23: Letter from [Antoni] Dufriche[-Desgenettes] to [Joseph] Guigniaut [1794–1876, secrétaire perpétuel de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres], 31 March 1865, accompanied by a table “Alphabet unitaire, servant de base à un système complet de prononciation figurée et destiné à faciliter l’étude phonologique de toute langue, et même de tout idiome dépourvu de signes graphiques, &c., &c. par A. D. D.” with “Notes éparses” (verso).17
AN F7* 2555: Archives nationales (Paris), Fonds publics postérieurs à 1789, série F: Versements des ministères et des administrations qui en dépendent; sous-série 7: Police générale; cote 2555: Passeports, juillet – déc. 1820 (registre). Fol. 953: Enregistrement du 21 août 1820.
AN F18* IV 143: Archives nationales (Paris), Fonds publics postérieurs à 1789, série F: Versements des ministères et des administrations qui en dépendent; sous-série 18: Imprimerie, librairie, presse censure; IV: Enregistrement du dépôt légal à Paris, ouvrages périodiques; cote 143: Année 1868, A-B (registre).
BnF NAF 24493(2): Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), Département des Manuscrits, Nouvelles acquisitions françaises, Correspondance et papiers de Louis Havet, cote 24493(2): X Drake-Duverd. Fol. 171–191: Letters from [Antoni] Dufriche[-Desgenettes], 23 May 1873–27 July 1875.
References18
18. At the end of an entry, “Gallica”, “Google” and “Internet Archive” followed by an identifier refer to the digitized versions at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/xxx, http://books.google.com/books?id=xxx and http://www.archive.org/details/xxx, respectively, where xxx stands for the identifier. Due to poor cataloguing and indexing, such digitizations are not always easy to locate. All URLs were last accessed on 10 January 2011.