Chapter 6/7Features

PHONOLOGY (Lane 335)

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.

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 soundVocal cords vibrating (voiced) = [d]Blade of tongue not touching but close approximation = [s]Velum lowered = alveolar nasal [n]

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

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

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

Segmental Composition (cont)

random sets # natural class

Vowels and nasals in example above = natural class

[ t, d] = natural class

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)

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.

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.

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.

Phonological Features

[+ anterior]

[- coronal]

Labials [p, b, f, v]

[+ anterior]

[+ coronal]

Alveolars & Dentals [t, d, s, z, θ ,ð]

Phonological Features

[- anterior]

[+ coronal]

Palatals [j, ʃ ,ӡ, ʧ,ʤ,]

[- anterior]

[- coronal]

velars [k, g, x, R] Compact system with no unused

combinations

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)

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 ɪt] [- syll]: don’t function as syllabic nuclei;

[r] , [b] & [t] in [r æb ɪt] Sounds other than vowels may be syllabic i.e.

(liquids & nasals) in [bɔtl] and [bʌtn]

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])

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.

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.

Major Class Features

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

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]

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, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ, k, g, h]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

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

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

Vocalic Features

2- [low] [+ lo]: body of the tongue is lowered with

respect to the neutral position

Consonants: [ʔ], [h]

Vowels: [ɒ, ɑː, ʌ, æ]

[- lo]: without such lowering

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]

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.

Vocalic Features

5- [round]

[+ rnd]: produced with rounded lips

Consonants: [w]

Vowels: [uː, ʊ, oː, ɔ]

[- rnd]: produced with neutral or spread lips

Vocalic Features

6- [tense]

[+ tns]: involve muscular constriction (longer sounds)

[iː, uː, ɑː, eː] [ - tns]: no constriction (shorter sounds)

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.

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.