Re: [tied] Abstractness (Was Re: [j] v. [i])

Minimal pairs are not enough to establish the existence of a phonemic
contrast. For example the contrast in <hew> and <who> does not establish a
palatal fricative; this is better analysed as a phonetic realisation of the
sequence /hj/.
On the other hand, I am about to inaugurate the VWRS - the Voiceless [W]
Recognition Society. Despite a whole bunch of minimal pairs in my dialect
of English, some phoneticians will not accept it as a phoneme in English. I
think they are too affected by dialects careless enough to have lost it.

Peter