Distinctive features of the word

Word
– the basic unit of language. It directly corresponds to the object
of thought (referent) – which is generalized reverberation of a
certain “slice, piece” of objective reality and by immediately
referring to it names the thing meant. We distinguish
morphologically. 1. monomorphemic (root-words) 2. Polymorphemic
words, i.e. derivatives(производное
от
какого-либо
слова),
compounds, derivational compounds; semantically: monosemantic (one
meaning, one concept; Polysemantic:
words
having several meanings, thus denoting a whole set of related
concepts grouped according to the national peculiarities of a given
language; Syntactically:Categorematic:
notional
(значимые)
words
Syncategorematic:
form-words
Stylistically:Neutral,
Elevated
(bookish)
(steed,
to commence, spouse, slay, maiden) Colloquial
(smart,
cute, chap, trash, horny), Substandard
(не
соответствующий языковой норме)
words
(vulgarisms,
taboo, jargon argot, slang),
etc
(there
are various other stylistic groupings).
Etymologically:
Native, Borrowed,

Hybrid,
international
words

Wоrds
are the central elements of language system = we speak in words and
not otherwise, because they: 1) are
the biggest units of morphology and the smallest of syntax 2) embody
(воплощают
в
себе)
the main structural properties and functions of the language
(nominative, significative, communicative and pragmatic) 3) can be
used in isolation 4) are thought of as having a single referent or
represent a concept, a feeling, an action 5) are the smallest units
of written discourse: they are marked off by solid spelling 6)
segmentation of a sentence into words is easily done by an illiterate
speaker, but that of a word into morphemes presents sometimes
difficulties even for trained linguists 7) are written as a sequence
of letters bounded by spaces on a page (with exceptions)

word
and phoneme (Oh!
I)
word and morpheme (man,
wise, ism)
word and phrase (all
right, alarm clock, the reciprocal pronouns each other and one
another)

Essential
features 1
.Unity
of form and meaning Word – Form:
phonetic/graphic
morphological structure grammar form; Word – Meaning:
denotational
connotational lexico-grammatic grammatic 2.
When used in sentences words are syntactically
organized. Their freedom of entering into syntactic constructions is
limited by rules and constraints (They told
me this story vs. They spoke
me this story) 3. Words are characterized by (in)ability to occur in
different situations
(In a business letter: ‘I was a bit put
out
to hear that you are not going to place the order with us’)

Distinctive
(
отличительные)
features:

Within the scope of linguistics the word has been defined
syntactically, semantically, phonologically and by combining various
approaches.

Syntactic:
H. Sweet «the minimum sentence“, L. Bloomfield «a minimum
free form».

Syntactic
and semantic aspects
:
E. Sapir — «one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of
isolated ‘meaning’, into which the sentence resolves itself. It
cannot be cut into without a disturbance of meaning”.
Indivisibility
criterion
:
A
lion
is
a word-group

because we can insert other words between them: a
living lion.
Alive
is
a word
:
it is indivisible, nothing can be inserted between its elements.

Semantic:
Stephen Ullmann: “words are meaningful
units

Semantic-phonological
approach
:A.H.Gardiner:
«A word is an articulate sound-symbol
in its aspect of denoting
something

which is spoken about.»

Thus,
a satisfying word-definition should reflect the following features as
borrowed from the above explanations:

1. the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of
sounds 2. capable of a particular grammatical employment 3. the
smallest significant unit, used in isolation 4. capable of
functioning alone 5. characterized by morphological unint
erruptability and 6. having semantic integrity

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Word – the basic unit of language. It directly corresponds to the object of thought (referent) – which is generalized reverberation of a certain “slice, piece” of objective reality and by immediately referring to it names the thing meant. We distinguish morphologically. 1. monomorphemic (root-words) 2. Polymorphemic words, i.e. derivatives(производное от какого-либо слова), compounds, derivational compounds; semantically: monosemantic (one meaning, one concept; Polysemantic: words having several meanings, thus denoting a whole set of related concepts grouped according to the national peculiarities of a given language; Syntactically:Categorematic: notional (значимые) words Syncategorematic: form-words Stylistically:Neutral, Elevated (bookish) (steed, to commence, spouse, slay, maiden) Colloquial (smart, cute, chap, trash, horny), Substandard (не соответствующий языковой норме) words (vulgarisms, taboo, jargon argot, slang), etc (there are various other stylistic groupings). Etymologically: Native, Borrowed, Hybrid, international words

Wоrds are the central elements of language system = we speak in words and not otherwise, because they: 1) are the biggest units of morphology and the smallest of syntax 2) embody (воплощают в себе) the main structural properties and functions of the language (nominative, significative, communicative and pragmatic) 3) can be used in isolation 4) are thought of as having a single referent or represent a concept, a feeling, an action 5) are the smallest units of written discourse: they are marked off by solid spelling 6) segmentation of a sentence into words is easily done by an illiterate speaker, but that of a word into morphemes presents sometimes difficulties even for trained linguists 7) are written as a sequence of letters bounded by spaces on a page (with exceptions)

word and phoneme (Oh! I) word and morpheme (man, wise, ism) word and phrase (all right, alarm clock, the reciprocal pronouns each other and one another)

Essential features 1.Unity of form and meaning Word – Form: phonetic/graphic morphological structure grammar form; Word – Meaning: denotational connotational lexico-grammatic grammatic 2. When used in sentences words are syntactically organized. Their freedom of entering into syntactic constructions is limited by rules and constraints (They told me this story vs. They spoke me this story) 3. Words are characterized by (in)ability to occur in different situations (In a business letter: ‘I was a bit put out to hear that you are not going to place the order with us’)

Distinctive (отличительные) features: Within the scope of linguistics the word has been defined syntactically, semantically, phonologically and by combining various approaches.

Syntactic: H. Sweet «the minimum sentence“, L. Bloomfield «a minimum free form».

Syntactic and semantic aspects: E. Sapir — «one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated ‘meaning’, into which the sentence resolves itself. It cannot be cut into without a disturbance of meaning”. Indivisibility criterion: A lion is a word-group because we can insert other words between them: a living lion. Alive is a word: it is indivisible, nothing can be inserted between its elements.

Semantic: Stephen Ullmann: “words are meaningful units

Semantic-phonological approach:A.H.Gardiner: «A word is an articulate sound-symbol in its aspect of denoting something which is spoken about.»

Thus, a satisfying word-definition should reflect the following features as borrowed from the above explanations: 1. the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds 2. capable of a particular grammatical employment 3. the smallest significant unit, used in isolation 4. capable of functioning alone 5. characterized by morphological unint erruptability and 6. having semantic integrity

In linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that distinguishes one sound from another within a language. For example, the feature [voice] distinguishes the two bilabial plosives: [p] and [b]. There are many different ways of defining and arranging features into feature systems: some deal with only one language while others are developed to apply to all languages.[1]

Distinctive features are grouped into categories according to the natural classes of segments they describe: major class features, laryngeal features, manner features, and place features. These feature categories in turn are further specified on the basis of the phonetic properties of the segments in question.[2] For phonemes to be in a particular natural class, they have to share the same distinctive features such as articulation and/or sound similar to each other. We can find distinctive features between two words by finding the minimal pair between them. The minimal pair are when two words sound the same, but they are different in definition because the pair has different phonemes from each other.[3]

Since the inception of the phonological analysis of distinctive features in the 1950s, features traditionally have been specified by binary values to signify whether a segment is described by the feature; a positive value, [+], denotes the presence of a feature, while a negative value, [−], indicates its absence. In addition, a phoneme may be unmarked with respect to a feature. It is also possible for certain phonemes to have different features across languages. For example, [l] could be classified as a continuant or not in a given language depending on how it patterns with other consonants.[4] After the first distinctive feature theory was created by Jakobson in 1941, it was assumed that the distinctive features are binary and this theory about distinctive features being binary was formally adopted in “Sound Pattern of English” by Chomsky and Halle in 1968. Jakobson saw the binary approach as the best way to make the phoneme inventory shorter and the phonological oppositions are naturally binary.[5]

In recent developments[when?] to the theory of distinctive features, phonologists have proposed the existence of single-valued features. These features, called univalent or privative features, can only describe the classes of segments that are said to possess those features, and not the classes that are without them.[6]

ListEdit

This section lists and describes distinctive features in linguistics.[7]

Major classEdit

Major class features: The features that represent the major classes of sounds.

  1. [+/− syllabic][8] Syllabic segments may function as the nucleus of a syllable, while their counterparts, the [−syll] segments, may not. Except in the case of syllabic consonants, [+syllabic] designates all vowels, while [−syllabic] designates all consonants (including glides).
  2. [+/− consonantal][9] Consonantal segments are produced with an audible constriction in the vocal tract, such as obstruents, nasals, liquids, and trills. Vowels, glides and laryngeal segments are not consonantal.
  3. [+/− approximant] Approximant segments include vowels, glides, and liquids while excluding nasals and obstruents.
  4. [+/− sonorant][9] This feature describes the type of oral constriction that can occur in the vocal tract. [+son] designates the vowels and sonorant consonants (namely glides, liquids, and nasals) that are produced without an imbalance of air pressure in the vocal tract that might cause turbulence. [−son] describes the obstruents, articulated with a noticeable turbulence caused by an imbalance of air pressure in the vocal tract.

LaryngealEdit

Laryngeal features: The features that specify the glottal states of sounds.

  1. [+/− voice][8] This feature indicates whether vibration of the vocal folds occurs with the articulation of the segment.
  2. [+/− spread glottis][8] Used to indicate the aspiration of a segment, this feature denotes the openness of the glottis. For [+sg], the vocal folds are spread apart widely enough for frication to occur; for [−sg], there is not the same friction-inducing spreading.
  3. [+/− constricted glottis][8] The constricted glottis features denotes the degree of closure of the glottis. [+cg] implies that the vocal folds are held closely together, enough so that air cannot pass through momentarily, while [−cg] implies the opposite.

MannerEdit

Manner features: The features that specify the manner of articulation.

  1. [+/− continuant][9] This feature describes the passage of air through the vocal tract. [+cont] segments are produced without any significant obstruction in the tract, allowing air to pass through in a continuous stream. [−cont] segments, on the other hand, have such an obstruction, and so occlude the air flow at some point of articulation.
  2. [+/− nasal][9] This feature describes the position of the velum. [+nas] segments are produced by lowering the velum so that air can pass through the nasal tract. [−nas] segments conversely are produced with a raised velum, blocking the passage of air to the nasal tract and shunting it to the oral tract.
  3. [+/− strident][8] The strident feature applies to obstruents only and refers to a type of friction that is noisier than usual. This is caused by high energy white noise.
  4. [+/− lateral][8] This feature designates the shape and positioning of the tongue with respect to the oral tract. [+lat] segments are produced as the center of the tongue rises to contact the roof of the mouth, thereby blocking air from flowing centrally through the oral tract and instead forcing more lateral flow along the lowered side(s) of the tongue.
  5. [+/− delayed release][8] This feature distinguishes stops from affricates. Affricates are designated [+del rel]

PlaceEdit

Place features: The features that specify the place of articulation.

  • [ LABIAL ][9] Labial segments are articulated with the lips. As consonants, these include bilabial and labiodental consonants.
  1. [+/− round]: [+round] are produced with lip rounding, while [−round] are not.
  • [ CORONAL ][8][9] Coronal sounds are articulated with the tip and/or blade of the tongue. These include a large number of consonants, which can be made with the tip, blade or underside of the tongue (apical, laminal, or subapical consonant, respectively), making contact with the upper lip (linguolabial), between the teeth (interdental), with the back of the teeth (dental), with the alveolar ridge (alveolar), behind the alveolar ridge (postalveolar), or on or in front of the hard palate ((pre)palatal). With postalveolar sibilants, additional tongue shapes need to be distinguished, i.e. «domed» or slightly palatalized («hushing» or «palato-alveolar»), palatalized (alveolopalatal), and «closed» («hissing-hushing»).
  1. [+/− anterior]: Anterior segments are articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue at or in front of the alveolar ridge. Dental consonants are [+ant], postalveolar and retroflex ones are [−ant].
  2. [+/− distributed]: For [+dist] segments the tongue is extended for some distance in the mouth. In other words, laminal dental and postalveolar consonants are marked as [+dist], while apical alveolar and retroflex consonants are [−dist].
  • [ DORSAL ] Dorsal sounds are articulated by raising the dorsum of the tongue. All vowels are dorsal sounds. Dorsal consonants include palatal, velar and uvular consonants.
  1. [+/− high]: [+high] segments raise the dorsum close to the palate. [−high] segments do not.
  2. [+/− low]: [+low] segments bunch the dorsum to a position low in the mouth.
  3. [+/− back]: [+back] segments are produced with the tongue dorsum bunched and retracted slightly to the back of the mouth. [−back] segments are bunched and extended slightly forward.
  4. [+/− tense]: This feature (mainly) applies to the position of the root of the tongue when articulating vowels. [+tense] vowels have an advanced tongue root. In fact, this feature is often referred to as advanced tongue root (ATR), although there is a debate on whether tense and ATR are the same or different features.
  • [ RADICAL ] Radical sounds are articulated with the root of the tongue. These include epiglottal consonants.
  1. [+/− advanced tongue root]: [+ATR] segments advance the root of the tongue.
  2. [+/− retracted tongue root]: [+RTR] segments bunch the root of the tongue towards the pharyngeal wall and activate the pharyngeal constrictor muscles
  • [ GLOTTAL ][citation needed] Purely glottal sounds do not involve the tongue at all. These are the glottal consonants.

Vowel spaceEdit

Vowels are distinguished by

  1. [+/− back] (back vowels)
  2. [+/− high] (close vowels)
  3. [+/− low] (low vowels)
  4. [+/− tense] (tense vowels)

However, laryngoscopic studies suggest[citation needed] the features are

  1. [+/− front] (front vowels)
  2. [+/− raised] (raised vowels)
  3. [+/− retracted] (retracted vowels)
  4. [+/− round] (round vowels)

Jakobsonian systemEdit

This system is given by Jakobson & Halle (1971, 3.6, 3.7).

SonorityEdit

  • [+/− vocalic] vocalic, non-vocalic
  • [+/− consonantal] consonantal, non-consonantal
  • [+/− nasal] nasal, oral
  • [+/− compact] forward-flanged: velar and palatal consonant, wide vowel[clarification needed]
  • [+/− diffuse] backward-flanged: labial and coronal, narrow vowel[clarification needed]
  • [+/− abrupt]
  • [+/− strident] strident, mellow
  • [+/− checked]

ProtensityEdit

  • [+/− tense]

TonalityEdit

  • [+/− grave] peripheral consonant, back vowel
  • [+/− acute]
  • [+/− medial] coronal or palatal consonant, front vowel
  • [+/− flat] narrowed slit, wider slit
  • [+/− sharp] widened slit, narrower slit

Other usesEdit

The concept of a distinctive feature matrix to distinguish similar elements is identified with phonology, but there have been at least two efforts to use a distinctive feature matrix in related fields. Close to phonology, and clearly acknowledging its debt to phonology, distinctive features have been used to describe and differentiate handshapes in fingerspelling in American Sign Language.[10] Distinctive features have also been used to distinguish proverbs from other types of language such as slogans, clichés, and aphorisms.[11]

Analogous feature systems are also used throughout Natural Language Processing (NLP). For example, part-of-speech tagging divides words into categories. These include «major» categories such as Noun vs. Verb, but also other dimensions such as person and number, plurality, tense, and others. Some mnemonics for part-of-speech tags conjoin multiple features, such as «NN» for singular noun, vs. «NNS» for plural noun, vs. «NNS$» for plural possessive noun (see Brown Corpus). Others provide more explicit separation of features, even formalizing them via markup such as the Text Encoding Initiative’s feature structures. Modern statistical NLP uses vectors of very many features, although many of those features are not formally «distinctive» in the sense described here.

See alsoEdit

  • Feature geometry

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Ladefoged, Peter (2012). Vowels and consonants. Sandra Ferrari Disner (3 ed.). Malden, MA. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-1-4443-3429-6. OCLC 740281727.
  2. ^ Gussenhoven & Jacobs 2017, p. 64-65.
  3. ^ «ELLO». www.ello.uos.de. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  4. ^ Gussenhoven & Jacobs 2017, p. 72-73.
  5. ^ Administration. «Distinctive features». Macquarie University. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  6. ^ Gussenhoven & Jacobs 2017, p. 65.
  7. ^ Gussenhoven & Jacobs 2017, pp. 66–81.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Arnaudova, Olga. «Overview of Distinctive Features». University of Ottawa. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f «The Distinctive Features of English Phonemes Definitions». Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  10. ^ Godsave, Bruce. 1974. An investigation of the feasibility of using a particular distinctive feature matrix for recording and categorizing fingerspelling errors. University of Cincinnati, doctoral dissertation.
  11. ^ p. 73. Norrick, Neal. 1985. How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs. de Gruyter.

SourcesEdit

  • Chomsky, Noam; Halle, Morris (1968). The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.
  • Clements, George N. (1985). «The geometry of phonological features». Phonology Yearbook. 2: 225–252. doi:10.1017/S0952675700000440. S2CID 62237665.
  • Flynn, Darin (2006). «Articulator Theory» (PDF). University of Calgary. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-01.
  • Hall, T. A. (2007). «Chapter 13. Segmental features». In de Lacy, Paul (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 311–334.
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos; Jacobs, Haike (2017). Understanding Phonology. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-96141-8.
  • Jakobson, Roman; Fant, Gunnar; Halle, Morris (1952). Preliminaries to Speech Analysis: the Distinctive Features and their Correlates. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
  • Jakobson, Roman; Halle, Morris (1971). Fundamentals of Language. The Hague: Mouton.


Asked by: Madelynn Conroy

Score: 4.7/5
(11 votes)

In linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that may be analyzed in phonological theory.
Distinctive features are grouped into categories according to the natural classes of segments they describe: major class features, laryngeal features, manner features, and place features.

What is the meaning of distinctive features?

Filters. Distinctive feature is defined as something unique or different that sets someone or something apart from the rest. An example of a distinctive feature is striking blue eyes.

Why are distinctive features important?

Distinctive feature theory is an effort to identify the phonetic dimensions that are important for lexical contrasts and phonological patterns in human languages.

What are the distinctive features of sounds?

In phonological theory the building blocks of speech sounds are often argued to be what are called “distinctive features.” They typically have phonetic definitions and phonetically inspired names (e.g., [voice], [nasal], [labial]).

What is a distinctive feature quizlet?

Distinctive features: unique characteristics that distinguish one phoneme from another.

29 related questions found

What are the distinctive features characterizing English vowel sounds?

All vowels are produced with the vocal folds vibrating and are said to be voiced sounds. Vowels are commonly described according to the following characteristics: The portion of the tongue that is involved in the articulation: front, central or back. The tongue’s position relative to the palate: high, mid or low.

What are Place features?

Major or primary place features are those which distinguish the major points of articulation, distinguishing labial, coronal and dorsal sounds. … These are often labelled as [labial], [coronal], and [dorsal], referring to the lips, front of the tongue and back of the tongue respectively.

What are the features of vowels?

Vowel Features

  • high: the tongue is raised towards the hard or soft palate.
  • low: the tongue is lowered away from the hard or soft palate.
  • front: the blade of the tongue.
  • back: the body of the tongue or dorsum.

What are the features of phonetics?

Language is made up of words, which in turn are made up of phonemes (sound categories that convey meaning) and phones (sound categories that do not necessarily convey meaning). The elements making up and distinguishing phones are phonetic features. Additional characteristics of speech are pitch, intonation, and rate.

What is the distinctive feature of the poem?

Answer: The elements of poetry include meter, rhyme, form, sound, and rhythm (timing). Different poets use these elements in many different ways. Some poets do not use rhyme at all.

What are the major class features?

There are four major class features:

  • syllabic.
  • vocalic.
  • approximant.
  • sonorant.

What is distinctive language?

: having a quality or characteristic that makes a person or thing different from others : different in a way that is easy to notice.

What are distinctive features of language?

In linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that may be analyzed in phonological theory. Distinctive features are grouped into categories according to the natural classes of segments they describe: major class features, laryngeal features, manner features, and place features.

What makes something distinctive?

Something that is distinctive has a special quality or feature which makes it easily recognizable and different from other things of the same type.

What are non distinctive features?

Non-distinctive features are those that are predictable for any sound. For example, in Standard English, voiceless stops are aspirated when they are the first sound of a word (word initial) or when they are in the onset position of a stressed syllable.

What are the types of phonetics?

Phonetics is divided into three types according to the production (articulatory), transmission (acoustic) and perception (auditive) of sounds.

What are vowels called?

Frequency: The definition of a vowel is a letter representing a speech sound made with the vocal tract open, specifically the letters A, E, I, O, U. The letter «A» is an example of a vowel. … A letter representing the sound of vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o and u, and sometimes y.

What is the purpose of phonetics?

Phonetics is relevant to the general study of spoken language in two ways: It enters into describing how language is used by speakers, listeners and learners (the psychology and physics of speech behavior) and accounting for how language is formed by the social and biological constraints on their vocal/auditory …

What are the uses of vowels?

  • Vowels and consonants are two different sounds. A consonant is most often identified as a letter that is not a vowel.
  • A syllable is a unit of sound that creates meaning in language. Vowels alone do not make syllables. …
  • The sound that vowels make is used to create a literary device called assonance.

How do you classify a vowel?

From the viewpoint of articulatory phonetics, vowels are classified according to the position of the tongue and lips and, sometimes, according to whether or not the air is released through the nose. A high vowel (such as i in “machine” and u in “rule”) is pronounced with the tongue arched toward the roof of the mouth.

What are the features of consonants?

Consonant, any speech sound, such as that represented by t, g, f, or z, that is characterized by an articulation with a closure or narrowing of the vocal tract such that a complete or partial blockage of the flow of air is produced.

What are the graphological features?

Graphologists note such elements as the size of individual letters and the degree and regularity of slanting, ornamentation, angularity, and curvature. Other basic considerations are the general appearance and impression of the writing, the pressure of upward and downward strokes, and the smoothness of the writing.

What are the two types of consonants?

Voice and unvoiced consonants are the major two types of consonants.

What are the different semantic features?

Semantic features enable linguistics to explain how words that share certain features may be members of the same semantic domain. … For example, father and son share the common components of «human», «kinship», «male» and are thus part of a semantic domain of male family relations.

What are the 20 vowel sounds?

English has 20 vowel sounds. Short vowels in the IPA are /ɪ/-pit, /e/-pet, /æ/-pat, /ʌ/-cut, /ʊ/-put, /ɒ/-dog, /ə/-about. Long vowels in the IPA are /i:/-week, /ɑ:/-hard,/ɔ:/-fork,/ɜ:/-heard, /u:/-boot.

Distinctive feature

In linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that may be analyzed in phonological theory.

Distinctive features are grouped into categories according to the natural classes of segments they describe: major class features, laryngeal features, manner features, and place features. These feature categories in turn are further specified on the basis of the phonetic properties of the segments in question. Since the inception of the phonological analysis of distinctive features in the 1950s, features traditionally have been specified by assigning them binary values to signify that the segment being described by the feature either possesses that phonetic property or it does not. Therefore, a positive value, [+], denotes the presence of a feature, while a negative value, [−], indicates its absence. However, in recent developments to the theory of distinctive features, phonologists have proposed the existence of single-valued features. These features, called univalent or privative features, can only describe the classes of segments that are said to possess those features, and not the classes that are without them.

Contents

  • 1 Major class features
  • 2 Laryngeal features
  • 3 Manner features
  • 4 Place features
  • 5 See also
  • 6 References

Major class features

Major class features: The features that represent the major classes of sounds.

  1. [+/− consonantal] Consonantal segments are produced with an audible constriction in the vocal tract, like plosives, affricates, fricatives, nasals, laterals and [r]. Vowels, glides and laryngeal segments are not consonantal.
  2. [+/− sonorant] This feature describes the type of oral constriction that can occur in the vocal tract. [+son] designates the vowels and sonorant consonants, which are produced without the imbalance of air pressure in the vocal tract that might cause turbulence. [−son] alternatively describes the obstruents, articulated with a noticeable turbulence caused by an imbalance of air pressure in the vocal tract.
  3. [+/− syllabic] Syllabic segments may function as the nucleus of a syllable, while their counterparts, the [−syll] segments, may not.

Laryngeal features

Laryngeal features: The features that specify the glottal states of sounds.

  1. [+/− voice] This feature indicates whether vibration of the vocal folds occurs with the articulation of the segment.
  2. [+/− spread glottis] Used to indicate the aspiration of a segment, this feature denotes the openness of the glottis. For [+sg] the vocal folds are spread apart wide enough for frication to occur; for [−sg] there is not the same friction-inducing spreading.
  3. [+/− constricted glottis] The constricted glottis features denotes the degree of closure of the glottis. [+cg] implies that the vocal folds are held closely together, enough so that air cannot pass through momentarily. [−cg] implies the opposite.

Manner features

Manner features: The features that specify the manner of articulation.

  1. [+/− continuant] Continuant features describe the passage of air through the vocal tract. [+cont] segments are produced without any significant obstruction in the tract, and so air passes through in a continuous stream. [−cont] segments on the other hand have such an obstruction, and so occlude the air flow at some point of articulation.
  2. [+/− nasal] This feature describes the position of the velum. [+nas] segments are produced by lowering the velum so that air can pass through the nasal tract. [−nas] segments conversely are produced with a raised velum, blocking the passages of air to the nasal tract and shunting it to the oral tract.
  3. [+/− strident] The strident feature applies to obstruents only and refers to a type of friction that is noisier than usual. This is caused by high energy white noise.
  4. [+/− lateral] This feature designates the shape and positioning of the tongue with respect to the oral tract. [+lat] segments are produced as the center of the tongue rises to contact the roof of the mouth, thereby blocking air from flowing centrally through the oral tract and instead forcing more lateral flow along the lowered side(s) of the tongue.
  5. [+/− delayed release] This feature distinguishes stops from affricates. Affricates are designated [+del rel].

Place features

Place features: The features that specify the place of articulation.

  • [ LABIAL ] Labial segments are articulated with the lips. As consonants, these include bilabial and labiodental consonants.
  1. [+/− round] [+round] are produced with lip rounding. [−round] are not.
  • [ CORONAL ] Coronal sounds are articulated with the tip and/or blade of the tongue. These include a large number of consonants, which can be made with the tip, blade or underside of the tongue (apical, laminal, or subapical consonant, respectively), making contact with the upper lip (linguolabial), between the teeth (interdental), with the back of the teeth (dental), with the alveolar ridge (alveolar), behind the alveolar ridge (postalveolar), or on or in front of the hard palate ((pre)palatal). With postalveolar sibilants, additional tongue shapes need to be distinguished, i.e. «domed» or slightly palatalized («hushing» or «palato-alveolar»), palatalized (alveolopalatal), and «closed» («hissing-hushing»).
  1. [+/− anterior] Anterior segments are articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue at or in front of the alveolar ridge.
  2. [+/− distributed] For [+dist] segments the tongue is extended for some distance in the mouth.
  • [ DORSAL ] Dorsal sounds are articulated by raising the dorsum of the tongue. All vowels are dorsal sounds. Dorsal consonants include palatal, velar and uvular consonants.
  1. [+/− high] [+high] segments raise the dorsum close to the palate. [−high] segments do not.
  2. [+/− low] [+low] segments bunch the dorsum to a position low in the mouth.
  3. [+/− back] [+back] segments are produced with the tongue dorsum bunched and retracted slightly to the back of the mouth. [−back] segments are bunched and extended slightly forward.
  4. [+/− tense] This feature (mainly) applies to the position of the root of the tongue when articulating vowels. [+tense] vowels have an advanced tongue root. In fact, this feature is often referred to as Advanced tongue root, though there is a debate on whether tense and ATR are same or different features.
  • [ RADICAL ] Radical sounds are articulated with the root of the tongue. These include pharyngeal and epiglottal consonants.
  • [ LARYNGEAL ] Purely laryngeal sounds do not involve the tongue at all. These primarily include glottal consonants.

See also

  • Featural alphabet

References

  • Chomsky, Noam & Halle, Morris (1968). The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.
  • Clements, George N. (1985). «The geometry of phonological features». Phonology Yearbook 2: 225–252. doi:10.1017/S0952675700000440.
  • Flynn, Darin. (2006). Articulator Theory. University of Calgary. http://ucalgary.ca/dflynn/files/dflynn/Flynn06.pdf.
  • Hall, T. A. (2007). «Segmental features.» In Paul de Lacy, ed., The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology. 311-334. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos & Jacobs, Haike (2005). Understanding Phonology. London: Hoddor Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80735-0.
  • Jakobson, R., G. Fant & Halle, Morris (1952). Preliminaries to Speech Analysis: the Distinctive Features and their Correlates.. Cambridge, Ma.: MIT Press.

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