6-7

1. Chapter 6/7
Features
PHONOLOGY
(Lane 335)

2. Segmental Composition
 Speech sounds can be decomposed into a number
of articulatory components.
 Combining these properties in different ways
produces different speech sounds.
 properties= features
 Features show what sounds have in common &
how they are related or not related.

3. Segmental Composition
E.g. [t] vs [d] vs [s] vs [n]
[t] = air pushed from lungs
vocal cords apart (voiceless)
velum raised (oral sound)
blade of tongue (active articulator) touching
alveolar ridge (passive
articulator)
 Any change in above will result in different sound
Vocal cords vibrating (voiced) = [d]
Blade of tongue not touching but close approximation
= [s]
Velum lowered = alveolar nasal [n]

4. Segmental Composition (cont)
 However, difference between [t] vs [v]=
 Voiceless : voiced
 Tongue blade: lower lip (active articulator)
 alveolar ridge : upper teeth (passive articulator)
Features shared = Airflow + raised velum (oral)
[t] and [v] share these features with [f,d,s,z,k,f,g]
BUT these sounds don’t constitute a Natural Class

5. Segmental Composition (cont)
Phonology is the study of the systems and patterns
of speech sounds in a language
Phonology looks at what sounds are phonemes and
how these phonemes recur in different
environments according to certain patterns in
(different) languages
Recurring groups = natural class
Phonology is interested in natural classes
Non-recurring groups = not natural class
Phonology is not interested in these

6. Segmental Composition (cont)
E.g. nasalization as a phonological process
 affects only vowels
 is triggered by nasals
Hence the phonological rule states:
A vowel becomes nasal when it immediately
precedes a nasal
/so/ (pail) and s~o (sound) in French
The difference is phonemic = changes meaning
pin and pit in English
The difference is phonetic = no change in meaning

7. Segmental Composition (cont)
random sets # natural class
Vowels and nasals in example above = natural class
[ t, d] = natural class

8. Natural class
 Similar sounds that are grouped together
according to a binary system because they
share some features
 Natural Class: Two or more sounds sharing
at least one feature.
 the smaller the class; the more the features
 Example [p, t, k] is a natural class of
(voiceless stops) (but this binary system allows for all other sound s to form
a natural class phonetically)

9. Phonetic vs. Phonological Features
 Phonetic features: correspond to physical
articulatory or acoustic events (how sounds are
articulated or produced)
 Phonological features: (mental aspect of sounds in
the language)
1- look beyond the individual segments at the sound
system of language.
2- features to characterize speech sounds in the
languages of the world.
3- some features are relevant only for consonants;
others are only for vowels.

10. Phonetic vs. Phonological Features
 To characterize place of articulation: e.g.
[palatal] & use +, or –
 Binary feature: a feature that has only two
values (+ or -)
 Phonologists express true generalizations
about phonological structure as economically
as possible.

11. Phonological Features
 Major places of articulation:
 [+ anterior]: sounds produced no further back
in the oral tract than the alveolar ridge
 [+ coronal]: sounds produced in the area
bounded by the teeth & hard palate
 Only two features gives four possible
combinations.

12. Phonological Features
[+ anterior]
[- coronal]
Labials [p, b, f, v]
[+ anterior]
[+ coronal]
Alveolars & Dentals [t, d, s, z, θ ,ð]

13. Phonological Features
[- anterior]
[+ coronal]
Palatals [j, ,ʃ ӡ, ʧ,ʤ,]
[- anterior]
[- coronal]
velars [k, g, x, R]
 Compact system with no unused
combinations

14. Charting the Features
 Goal of Phonology is to come up with a Universal
set of finite rules that applies to all languages
 (some rules will not apply to English)

15. Major Class Features
 Distinguish major classes of speech sounds:
Consonants & vowels, sonorants & obstruents
1- [+/- syllabic]: distinguish vowels from other sounds
 [+ syll]: function as the nucleus of a syllable
e.g: [æ ] & [ɪ ] in [r æb t]ɪ
 [- syll]: don’t function as syllabic nuclei;
[r] , [b] & [t] in [r æb t]ɪ
 Sounds other than vowels may be syllabic i.e.
(liquids & nasals) in [b tl] andɔ [bʌtn]

16. Major Class Features
2- [+/- consonantal]: distinguish consonants
obstruents, liquids, & nasals from vowels &
glides.
 [+ cons]: involve oral stricture of close
approximation ([p], [l], [t])
 [- cons]: with stricture more open than close
approximation ([j], [e])

17. Major Class Features
3- [+/ - sonorant]: distinguish vowels, glides, liquids, &
nasal stops from oral stops, affricates & fricatives.
 [+ son]: are marked by a continuing resonant sound.
Sonorant sounds have more acoustic energy than
other consonants
 [- son] or (obstruents) opposite of sonorant sounds
 Vowels, nasals & liquids are sonorants
 Stops, fricatives & affricates are obstruents.

18. Major Class Features
 Sonorant sound =
1. A voiced sound that is less sonorous than a
vowel but more sonorous than a stop or
fricative and that may occur as either a
sonorant or a consonant as l,r,m,n,ŋ,j,w.
 2. A speech sound characterized by relatively
free air passage through some channel as a
vowel, semivowel, liquid or nasal.

19. Major Class Features

20. Consonantal Features
 1- [+/ - voice]: consonants with vibrating vocal cords
& those which are not
 [+ voi]: with airflow through the glottis; vocal cords
close to vibrate, such as [l], [m], [n]
 [- voi]: with vocal cords at rest; relevant to
obstruents, such as [s], [p]
 Although vowels are typically voiced, we find
voiceless vowels in languages like Mexican

21. Place Features
 [+/ - coronal]: distinguish sounds which
involve the front of the tongue from others
 [+ cor]: articulated with the tongue tip or
blade raised
[j, l, r, n, t, d, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ , ʒ , tʃ , dʒ ]
 [- cor] sounds which don’t involve the front of
the tongue
[w, m, ŋ , k, g, h, f, v, p, b]

22. Place Features
 [+/ - anterior]: distinguishes between sounds
produced in the front of the mouth (labials, dentals &
alveolars) and other sounds
 [+ ant]: produced at or in front of the alveolar ridge
[l, r, n, m, t, d, θ, ð, s, z, f, v, p, b]
 [- ant]: produced further back in the oral cavity than
the alveolar ridge
[j, w, ŋ, , , t , d , k, g, h]ʃ ʒ ʃ ʒ

23. Place Features
 Labials:
[- cor, + ant] [m, f, v, p, b]
 Dentals/ Alveolars:
[+ cor, + ant] [ l, r, n, t, d, θ, ð, s, z]
 Palato- Alveoars/ Palatals:
[+ cor, - ant] [j, ,ʃ ʒ, tʃ, dʒ ]
 Velars/Glottals/ Pharyngeals/Uvulars:
[- cor, - ant] [w, ŋ, k, g, h, ]ʔ

24. Manner Features
1- [+/ - continuant]: distinguishes between
stops & other sounds
[+ cont]: there is airflow through the oral cavity
[j, w, l, r, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h, f, v]
[- cont]: in which the airflow is stopped in the
oral cavity
[n, m, ŋ, t, d, tʃ, dʒ, k, g, p, b]

25. Manner Features
2- [+/- nasal]: distinguish nasal & non-nasal sounds
 [+ nas]: produced with the velum lowered & air flows
through the nasal cavity
[m, n, ŋ ]
 [- nas]: without airflow through nasal cavity
[j, w, l, r, d, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ, k, g, h, f, v, p, b]

26. Manner Features
3- [+/- strident]: separates turbulent sounds
from others
 [+ strid]: complex constriction resulting in
noisy airflow
[s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ, f, v]
 [- strid]: without such constriction
[j, w, l, r, n, m, ŋ, t, d, θ, ð, k, g, h, p, b]

27. Manner Features
4- [+/- lateral]: separates [l] sounds from others
 [+ lat]: central oral obstruction & airflow
passing over one or both sides of the tongue
[l]
 [- lat]: all other sounds

28. Manner Features
5- [+/- delayed release]: distinguishes affricates
from other [- cont] segments
 [+ del rel]: produced with stop closure in the
oral cavity followed by frication at some point
[tʃ, dʒ] (only two sounds)
 [- del rel]: without frication

29. Vocalic Features (vowels)
 1- [high]:
 [+ hi]: body of the tongue raised above the
neutral position in [ə]
Vowels [iː, ɪ, ʊ, uː ]
Consonants [j, k, g, ŋ, ʃ, ӡ, ʧ,ʤ,w, j]
 [- hi]: the body of the tongue is not raised

30. Vocalic Features
2- [low]
 [+ lo]: body of the tongue is lowered with
respect to the neutral position
Consonants: [ ], [h]ʔ
Vowels: [ɒ, ɑː, ʌ, æ]
 [- lo]: without such lowering

31. Vocalic Features
3- [back]
 [+ back]: body of the tongue is retracted from neutral
position
Consonants: [k, g, ŋ]
Vowels: [uː,ʊ, oː, ɔ, ɒ, ɑː]
 [- back]: tongue is not retracted
All English consonants except the velars are [-back]

32. Vocalic Features
4- [front]
 [+ front]: sounds for which the tongue is
fronted from the neutral position
[iː, ɪ, e, ε, æ]
 [- front]: the tongue is not fronted.

33. Vocalic Features
5- [round]
 [+ rnd]: produced with rounded lips
Consonants: [w]
Vowels: [uː, ʊ, o , ]ː ɔ
 [- rnd]: produced with neutral or spread lips

34. Vocalic Features
6- [tense]
 [+ tns]: involve muscular constriction (longer
sounds)
[iː, uː, ɑː, e ]ː
 [ - tns]: no constriction (shorter sounds)

35. Vocalic Features
7- [Advanced Tongue Root]
 for describing West African & other
languages vowels (vowel harmony)
 words have vowels from certain sets & not a
mixture of both sets
 [+ ATR]: the root of the tongue pushed
forward
 [- ATR]: tongue root is not pushed forward.

36. Problems with the features
 There are some problems of these features, for
example:
 Some combinations represents physical
impossibility [+ hi, + lo]
 The system overgenerates; represents types not
found in human languages.
 Using the feature [back] doesn’t represent
languages with central vowels.