User:Azg20/Distinctive feature

Article Draft (Sentences in BOLD is information I added!)

edit

Lead

edit

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. 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.[1]

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. 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.[2]

Article body

edit

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

  • [+/− sonorant] [4] 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.

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

  • [+/− voice] [3] This feature indicates whether vibration of the vocal folds occurs with the articulation of the segment.
  • [+/− spread glottis] [3] 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.
  • [+/− constricted glottis] [3] 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.

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

  • [+/− continuant] [4] 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.
  • [+/−  nasal] [4] 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.
  • [+/− strident] [3] 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.
  • [+/− lateral] [3] 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.
  • [+/− delayed release] [3] This feature distinguishes stops from affricates. Affricates are designated [+del rel].

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

Major Place Features

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "ELLO". www.ello.uos.de. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
  2. ^ Administration. "Distinctive features". Macquarie University. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Overview of Distinctive Features". aix1.uottawa.ca. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "The Distinctive Features of English Phonemes Definitions". sites.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2021-04-25.