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The 1st problem of phonological analysis is to establish the number and system of phonemes in the language. There are 2 methods of analysis:
1. Distributional method - states that the sounds can be groups of phonemes (allophones of 1 phoneme occur only in different context because they can't perform distinctive function). It is purely formal method of identifying the phonemes of a language.
2. Semantic method - is based on the phonological rule that a phoneme can distinguish words (the meaning or the form) when it is opposed to another phoneme in identical phonetic contexts (so-called minimal pairs).