This document discusses phonological features and how they are used to characterize speech sounds. It begins by explaining how speech sounds can be decomposed into articulatory components and properties. It then provides examples of distinguishing features for different consonant sounds like [t] vs [d] vs [s] vs [n]. The rest of the document outlines phonetic and phonological features in detail, including major class features, consonantal features, place features, manner features, and vocalic features. It aims to develop a set of finite phonological rules that can apply universally across languages but notes some problems with the feature system.

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.