prerequisites (n.)

A term used in LINGUISTICS to refer to the concepts on which an analysis at a specific linguistic LEVEL depends. Its main application is in the context of PHONOLOGICAL PROCEDURES, where the American STRUCTURALIST view of the 1940s – that phonological analysis should proceed solely on the basis of PHONETIC criteria – came to be opposed by a view which stressed the importance of ‘GRAMMATICAL prerequisites’ – the PRESUPPOSITIONS about the identity of such notions as WORD and SENTENCE which had to be made before techniques such as the MINIMAL PAIR test could be used.