Segmentaalinen

Segmentaalinen is a term used in linguistics to describe properties and analyses that pertain to linguistic segments—the individual sounds of speech, typically consonants and vowels (phonemes or phones). Segmentaalinen analysis concerns the inventories of segments a language uses, the distinctive features that separate segments (for example, voicing, place and manner of articulation for consonants, and vowel height, backness, and rounding for vowels), and the rules that operate at the segment level, such as phonotactics and processes like assimilation or allophony.

In contrast, suprasegmental features (also called prosodic features) extend over sequences of segments. These include stress, intonation, rhythm, syllable structure, and, in some languages, tone. The segmental level focuses on the building blocks of words and syllables, while the suprasegmental level examines how these building blocks are organized across larger units of speech.

The term is widely used in phonology and phonetics to describe language descriptions, including Finnish, and is relevant to discussions of orthography and literacy where the relationship between written symbols and individual speech sounds is important. Segmental analysis helps explain phonemic contrasts, patterns of allophony, and phonotactic constraints across languages, illustrating how sound systems are organized at the most granular level.