isolated (adj.)

A type of OPPOSITION recognized in PRAGUE SCHOOL PHONOLOGY, distinguished from PROPORTIONAL. The opposition between English /v/ and /l/ is isolated, because there are no other segments that are contrasted in this particular way, i.e. VOICED LABIO-DENTAL FRICATIVE v. voiced LATERAL. The opposition between /f/ and /v/, however, is proportional, because there are other oppositions in the language which work in parallel, e.g. /s/ v. /z/, /θ/ v. .