An overview of commonly used distinctive features
The features described in Halle & Clements (1983) have been commonly used in the phonology literature in their analyses of the sound patterns of various languages. They incorporate many insights of the original features devised by Jakobson (1941) but are mostly based on those of the Sound Pattern of English, taking into account some modifications suggested by Halle & Stevens (1971). Most of these are also discussed below.
i. Major class features
Four features [syll], [cons], [son], [cont] (syllabic, consonantal, sonorant, continuant) are used to divide up speech sounds into major classes, as follows. Note that [syll] means "syllabic" (syllable nucleus), [cons] means "consonantal", [son] means "sonorant" (periodic low frequency energy), [cont] means "continuant" (continuous airflow through oral cavity), and [delrel] means delayed release (release is not "delayed", but there is a longer aspiration phase than oral stops - nb. voice onset is what's actually delayed).
syll
cons
son
cont
delrel
vowels
+
-
+
+
0
oral stops
-
+
-
-
-
affricates
-
+
-
-
+
nasal stops
-
+
+
-
0
fricatives
-
+
-
+
0
liquids
-
+
+
+
0
semi-vowels
-
-
+
+
0
Note that the approximants have been divided into liquids (eg. in English /r, l/) and semi-vowels (eg. in English /w, j/). In this, and most other distinctive feature sets derived from Chomsky and Halle. Semi-vowels (being [-syll, -cons]) form a class of sounds intermediate between vowels ([+syll]) and consonants ([+cons]). The approximants can be defined as a class by the features [-syll, +son, +cont] and can be further sub-divided into liquids and semi-vowels using the [cons] feature. Note that "0" means irrelevant feature for these classes of sounds (there's nothing to release).
We also have a feature [nasal] which, as its name suggests, separates nasal from oral sounds. In the above table, [nasal] would have been redundant as the nasal stops are already defined uniquely as [-syll, +cons, +son, -cont] (ie. as sonorant stops). However. the feature [nasal] is required to define nasal stops, nasalised vowels and nasalised approximants as a single natural class.
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Chomsky and Halle (1968-1983)
An overview of commonly used distinctive features
The features described in Halle & Clements (1983) have been commonly used in the phonology literature in their analyses of the sound patterns of various languages. They incorporate many insights of the original features devised by Jakobson (1941) but are mostly based on those of the Sound Pattern of English, taking into account some modifications suggested by Halle & Stevens (1971). Most of these are also discussed below.
i. Major class features
Four features [syll], [cons], [son], [cont] (syllabic, consonantal, sonorant, continuant) are used to divide up speech sounds into major classes, as follows. Note that [syll] means "syllabic" (syllable nucleus), [cons] means "consonantal", [son] means "sonorant" (periodic low frequency energy), [cont] means "continuant" (continuous airflow through oral cavity), and [delrel] means delayed release (release is not "delayed", but there is a longer aspiration phase than oral stops - nb. voice onset is what's actually delayed).
syll
cons
son
cont
delrel
vowels
+
-
+
+
0
oral stops
-
+
-
-
-
affricates
-
+
-
-
+
nasal stops
-
+
+
-
0
fricatives
-
+
-
+
0
liquids
-
+
+
+
0
semi-vowels
-
-
+
+
0
Note that the approximants have been divided into liquids (eg. in English /r, l/) and semi-vowels (eg. in English /w, j/). In this, and most other distinctive feature sets derived from Chomsky and Halle. Semi-vowels (being [-syll, -cons]) form a class of sounds intermediate between vowels ([+syll]) and consonants ([+cons]). The approximants can be defined as a class by the features [-syll, +son, +cont] and can be further sub-divided into liquids and semi-vowels using the [cons] feature. Note that "0" means irrelevant feature for these classes of sounds (there's nothing to release).
We also have a feature [nasal] which, as its name suggests, separates nasal from oral sounds. In the above table, [nasal] would have been redundant as the nasal stops are already defined uniquely as [-syll, +cons, +son, -cont] (ie. as sonorant stops). However. the feature [nasal] is required to define nasal stops, nasalised vowels and nasalised approximants as a single natural class.
The features described in Halle & Clements (1983) have been commonly used in the phonology literature in their analyses of the sound patterns of various languages. They incorporate many insights of the original features devised by Jakobson (1941) but are mostly based on those of the Sound Pattern of English, taking into account some modifications suggested by Halle & Stevens (1971). Most of these are also discussed below.
i. Major class features
Four features [syll], [cons], [son], [cont] (syllabic, consonantal, sonorant, continuant) are used to divide up speech sounds into major classes, as follows. Note that [syll] means "syllabic" (syllable nucleus), [cons] means "consonantal", [son] means "sonorant" (periodic low frequency energy), [cont] means "continuant" (continuous airflow through oral cavity), and [delrel] means delayed release (release is not "delayed", but there is a longer aspiration phase than oral stops - nb. voice onset is what's actually delayed).
syll
cons
son
cont
delrel
vowels
+
-
+
+
0
oral stops
-
+
-
-
-
affricates
-
+
-
-
+
nasal stops
-
+
+
-
0
fricatives
-
+
-
+
0
liquids
-
+
+
+
0
semi-vowels
-
-
+
+
0
Note that the approximants have been divided into liquids (eg. in English /r, l/) and semi-vowels (eg. in English /w, j/). In this, and most other distinctive feature sets derived from Chomsky and Halle. Semi-vowels (being [-syll, -cons]) form a class of sounds intermediate between vowels ([+syll]) and consonants ([+cons]). The approximants can be defined as a class by the features [-syll, +son, +cont] and can be further sub-divided into liquids and semi-vowels using the [cons] feature. Note that "0" means irrelevant feature for these classes of sounds (there's nothing to release).
We also have a feature [nasal] which, as its name suggests, separates nasal from oral sounds. In the above table, [nasal] would have been redundant as the nasal stops are already defined uniquely as [-syll, +cons, +son, -cont] (ie. as sonorant stops). However. the feature [nasal] is required to define nasal stops, nasalised vowels and nasalised approximants as a single natural class.
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