“In English we have noticed twenty-five consonant and about twenty vowel phonemes. Although individual pronunciations may differ, the phonemic habits of the same group or class will be similar. They will make similar use of heterophony. Words not phonetically separated — that is, homophones — may be separated by function or by experiential context”

— John Rupert Firth

Source: Speech, 1930, p. 182

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John Rupert Firth 14

English linguist 1890–1960

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“It is not easy to determine what are the units of speech. Some would say speech sounds, others phonemes… The general opinion is, however, that words, not phones or phonemes or phoneme systems, are the units of speech.”

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Source: Speech, 1930, p. 182-183; As cited in: Angela Senis (2016: 293)

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