linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of

phonological Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often prefer ...

structure that distinguishes one

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

from another within a

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

. For example, the feature

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

] ''distinguishes'' the two bilabial plosives: [p] and [b] (i.e., it makes the two plosives ''distinct'' from one another). There are many different ways of defining and arranging features into ''feature systems'': some deal with only one language while others are developed to apply to all languages. 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 Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

properties of the segments in question. 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, minus; indicates its absence. In addition, a phoneme may be

unmarked In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...

with respect to a feature. It is also possible for certain

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

s to have different features across languages. For example, 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 Russian linguist

Roman Jakobson Roman Osipovich Jakobson (, ; 18 July 1982) was a Russian linguist and literary theorist. A pioneer of structural linguistics, Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of the twentieth century. With Nikolai Trubetzk ...

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

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

and

Morris Halle Morris Halle, Pinkowitz (; July 23, 1923 – April 2, 2018), was a Latvian-born American linguist who was an Institute Professor, and later professor emeritus, of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The father of "modern ...

in 1968. Jakobson saw the binary approach as the best way to make the phoneme inventory shorter and the phonological oppositions are naturally binary. In recent developments to the theory of distinctive features, phonologists have proposed the existence of single-valued features. These features, called ''univalent'' or '' privative features'', can only describe the classes of segments that are said to possess those features, and not the classes that are without them.

List

This section lists and describes distinctive features in linguistics.

Major class

Major class features: The features that represent the major classes of sounds. # /− syllabicref name=":0"> Syllabic segments may function as the

nucleus Nucleus (: nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucleu ...

of a

syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

, while their counterparts, the minus;syllsegments, may not. Except in the case of

syllabic consonant A syllabic consonant or vocalic consonant is a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable on its own, like the ''m'', ''n'' and ''l'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''rhythm'', ''button'' and ''awful'', respectively. To represe ...

s, syllabicdesignates all

vowels A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...

, while minus;syllabicdesignates all

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

s (including glides). # /− consonantalref name=":1"> Consonantal segments are produced with an audible constriction in the

vocal tract The vocal tract is the cavity in human bodies and in animals where the sound produced at the sound source (larynx in mammals; syrinx in birds) is filtered. In birds, it consists of the trachea, the syrinx, the oral cavity, the upper part of t ...

, such as

obstruent An obstruent ( ) is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well ...

nasal Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination: * With reference to the human nose: ** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery * ...

liquids Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...

, and trills. Vowels, glides and laryngeal segments are not consonantal. # /− approximantApproximant segments include vowels, glides, and

while excluding

s and

s. # /− sonorantref name=":1" /> This feature describes the type of oral constriction that can occur in the vocal tract. sondesignates the

and

sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels a ...

consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

(namely glides,

, and

s) that are produced without an imbalance of air pressure in the vocal tract that might cause turbulence. minus;sondescribes the

s, articulated with a noticeable turbulence caused by an imbalance of air pressure in the vocal tract.

Laryngeal

Laryngeal features: The features that specify the glottal states of sounds. # /− voiceref name=":0" /> This feature indicates whether vibration of the

vocal folds In humans, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through Speech, vocalization. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch of voice, similar to a violin string. Open when brea ...

occurs with the articulation of the segment. # /− spread glottisref name=":0" /> 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 friction to occur; for minus;sg there is not the same friction-inducing spreading. # /− constricted glottisref name=":0" /> The constricted glottis feature denotes the degree of closure of the glottis. cgimplies that the vocal folds are held closely together, enough so that air cannot pass through momentarily, while minus;cgimplies the opposite. cgsounds include

glottalized Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice (partial closure). Glottalization of obstruent conso ...

ejective In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some l ...

and

implosive Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airstream is controlled by moving the glottis downward in additi ...

consonants, as well as the

glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...

Manner

Manner features: The features that specify the

manner of articulation articulatory phonetics, the manner of articulation is the configuration and interaction of the articulators ( speech organs such as the tongue, lips, and palate) when making a speech sound. One parameter of manner is ''stricture,'' that is, h ...

. # /− continuant">continuant.html" ;"title="/− continuant">/− continuantref name=":1" /> 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. #

] This feature describes the position of the Soft palate, velum. [+nas] segments are produced by lowering the velum so that air can pass through the nasal cavity, nasal tract. [−nas] segments conversely are produced with a raised velum, blocking the passage of air from the nasal tract and shunting it to the oral tract. # /− stridentref name=":0" /> 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 In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used with this or similar meanings in many scientific and technical disciplines, i ...

. #

lateral Lateral is a geometric term of location which may also refer to: Biology and healthcare * Lateral (anatomy), a term of location meaning "towards the side" * Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle, an intrinsic muscle of the larynx * Lateral release ( ...

] 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 releaseref name=":0" /> This feature distinguishes stops from

affricates An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...

. Affricates are designated del rel

Place

Place features: The features that specify the

place of articulation In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is an approximate location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a pa ...

. * LABIAL ">Labial_consonant.html" ;"title="Labial consonant">LABIAL ref name=":1" /> Labial segments are articulated with the lips. As consonants, these include bilabial consonant">bilabial In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a labial consonant articulated with both lips. Frequency Bilabial consonants are very common across languages. Only around 0.7% of the world's languages lack bilabial consonants altogether, including Tling ...

List

Major class

Laryngeal

Manner

Place

Vowel space

Jakobsonian system

Sonority

Protensity

Tonality

Other uses

See also

References

Sources