equipollent (adj.)

A type of OPPOSITION recognized in PRAGUE SCHOOL PHONOLOGY, distinguished from PRIVATIVE and GRADUAL. An equipollent opposition is one where the members are seen as logically equivalent to each other, contrasted neither gradually nor by a BINARY FEATURE: e.g. the DISTINCTION between /p/ and /k/ cannot be analyzed, according to Nikolai Trubetskoy, as a difference along a single PHONETIC continuum, nor can /p/ be seen as ‘non-VELAR’, or /k/ as ‘non-BILABIAL’.

In some phonological models, equipollent characterizes a FEATURE where both values are needed; opposed to PRIVATIVE.