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In
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of
phonological Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
structure that distinguishes one sound from another within a language. For example, the feature oicedistinguishes the two bilabial plosives: and 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 In phonology, a natural class is a set of phonemes in a language that share certain distinctive features. A natural class is determined by participation in shared phonological processes, described using the minimum number of features necessary for d ...
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. For phonemes to be in a particular natural class, they have to share the same distinctive features such as articulation and/or sound similar to each other. We can find distinctive features between two words by finding the minimal pair between them. The minimal pair are when two words sound the same, but they are different in definition because the pair has different phonemes from each other. 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 In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...
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 Jakobson 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 Chomsky and Halle 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 Nucl ...
of a
syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological ...
, 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 a syllable on its own, like the ''m'', ''n'' and ''l'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''rhythm'', ''button'' and ''bottle''. To represent it, the understroke diacrit ...
s,
syllabic Syllabic may refer to: *Syllable, a unit of speech sound, considered the building block of words **Syllabic consonant, a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable *Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables *Abugida, writing system ...
designates all
vowels A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...
, 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. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced w ...
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 th ...
, 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 as ...
s,
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 * ...
s, liquids, and trills. Vowels, glides and laryngeal segments are not consonantal. # /− approximantApproximant segments include vowels, glides, and liquids while excluding
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 * ...
s and
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 as ...
s. # /− sonorantref name=":1" /> This feature describes the type of oral constriction that can occur in the vocal tract.
son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some curren ...
designates the
vowels A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...
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 ar ...
consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
(namely glides, liquids, and
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 * ...
s) that are produced without an imbalance of air pressure in the vocal tract that might cause turbulence. minus;sondescribes the
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 as ...
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, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speec ...
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 frication to occur; for minus;sg there is not the same friction-inducing spreading. # /− constricted glottisref name=":0" /> The constricted glottis features 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.


Manner

Manner features: The features that specify the manner of articulation. # /−_continuant.html" ;"title="continuant.html" ;"title="/− continuant">/− 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. # nasal.html"_;"title="Nasalization.html"_;"title="/−__Nasalization">nasal">Nasalization.html"_;"title="/−__Nasalization">nasalref_name=":1"_/>_This_feature_describes_the_position_of_the_Soft_palate.html" "title="Nasalization">nasal.html" ;"title="Nasalization.html" ;"title="/− Nasalization">nasal">Nasalization.html" ;"title="/− Nasalization">nasalref name=":1" /> This feature describes the position of the Soft palate">velum Velum may refer to: Human anatomy * Superior medullary velum, anterior medullary velum or valve of Vieussens, white matter, in the brain, which stretches between the superior cerebellar peduncles ** Frenulum of superior medullary velum, a sligh ...
. [+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 to 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 ...
. #
lateral Lateral is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Healthcare *Lateral (anatomy), an anatomical direction * Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle * Lateral release (surgery), a surgical procedure on the side of a kneecap Phonetics *Lateral co ...
] 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 pair ...
. 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 a location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articula ...
. * LABIAL_.html"_;"title="Labial_consonant.html"_;"title="Labial_consonant">LABIAL_">Labial_consonant.html"_;"title="Labial_consonant">LABIAL_ref_name=":1"_/>_Labial_segments_are_articulated_with_the_lips.__As_consonants,_these_include_bilabial_consonant.html" "title="Labial_consonant">LABIAL_.html" ;"title="Labial_consonant.html" ;"title="Labial consonant">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 Tli ...
 and labiodental consonants. #[+/− round]: [+round] are produced with lip rounding, while [−round] are not. *[ Coronal consonant, CORONAL ] Coronal sounds are articulated with the
tip Tip commonly refers to: * Tip (gambling) * Tip (gratuity) * Tip (law enforcement) * another term for Advice (opinion), Advice Tip or TIP may also refer to: Science and technology * Tank phone, a device allowing infantry to communicate with the oc ...
and/or
blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...
of the tongue. These include a large number of consonants, which can be made with the tip, blade or underside of the tongue (
apical Apical means "pertaining to an apex". It may refer to: *Apical ancestor, refers to the last common ancestor of an entire group, such as a species (biology) or a clan (anthropology) *Apical (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features loc ...
,
laminal A laminal consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue in contact with upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, to possibly, as ...
, or
subapical consonant A subapical consonant is a consonant made by contact with the underside of the tip of the tongue. The only common subapical articulations are in the postalveolar to palatal region, which are called " retroflex". Most so-called retroflex consonants ...
, respectively), making contact with the upper lip (
linguolabial Linguolabials or apicolabials are consonants articulated by placing the tongue tip or blade against the upper lip, which is drawn downward to meet the tongue. They represent one extreme of a coronal articulatory continuum which extends from ling ...
), between the teeth (
interdental Interdental consonants are produced by placing the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower front teeth. That differs from dental consonants, which are articulated with the tongue against the ''back'' of the upper incisors. No language is kn ...
), with the back of the teeth ( dental), with the
alveolar ridge The alveolar process () or alveolar bone is the thickened ridge of bone that contains the tooth sockets on the jaw bones (in humans, the maxilla and the mandible). The structures are covered by gums as part of the oral cavity. The synonymous t ...
( alveolar), behind the alveolar ridge ( postalveolar), or on or in front of the
hard palate The hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate made up of two bones of the facial skeleton, located in the roof of the mouth. The bones are the palatine process of the maxilla and the horizontal plate of palatine bone. The hard palate spans t ...
( (pre)palatal). With postalveolar sibilants, additional tongue shapes need to be distinguished, i.e. "domed" or slightly palatalized ("hushing" or "palato-alveolar"), palatalized ( alveolopalatal), and "closed" ("hissing-hushing"). # /− anterior Anterior segments are articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue at or in front of the alveolar ridge. Dental consonants are
ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...
postalveolar and retroflex ones are minus;ant # /− distributed For distsegments the tongue is extended for some distance in the mouth. In other words, laminal dental and postalveolar consonants are marked as dist while apical alveolar and retroflex consonants are minus;dist *
DORSAL Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...
] Dorsal sounds are articulated by raising the dorsum of the tongue. All vowels are dorsal sounds. Dorsal consonants include palatal consonant, palatal,
velar Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...
and uvular consonants. # /− high highsegments raise the dorsum close to the
palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...
. minus;highsegments do not. # /− low lowsegments bunch the dorsum to a position low in the mouth. # /− back
back The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column runs ...
segments are produced with the tongue dorsum bunched and retracted slightly to the back of the mouth. minus;backsegments are bunched and extended slightly forward. # /− tense This feature (mainly) applies to the position of the root of the tongue when articulating vowels. tensevowels have an advanced tongue root. In fact, this feature is often referred to as
advanced tongue root In phonetics, advanced tongue root (ATR) and retracted tongue root (RTR) are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in Western and Eastern Africa, but also in Kazakh and Mong ...
(ATR), although there is a debate on whether tense and ATR are the same or different features. * RADICAL_.html" ;"title="Radical_consonant.html" ;"title="Radical consonant">RADICAL ">Radical_consonant.html" ;"title="Radical consonant">RADICAL Radical sounds are articulated with the root of the tongue. These include epiglottal consonants. #[+/− advanced tongue root]: [+ATR] segments advance the root of the tongue. #[+/− retracted tongue root]: [+RTR] segments bunch the root of the tongue towards the pharyngeal wall and activate the
pharyngeal constrictor The pharyngeal muscles are a group of muscles that form the pharynx, which is posterior to the oral cavity, determining the shape of its lumen, and affecting its sound properties as the primary resonating cavity. The pharyngeal muscles (involunta ...
muscles * GLOTTAL_.html" ;"title="Glottal_consonant.html" ;"title="Glottal consonant">GLOTTAL ">Glottal_consonant.html" ;"title="Glottal consonant">GLOTTAL Purely glottal sounds do not involve the tongue at all. These are the glottal consonants.


Vowel space

Vowels are distinguished by #[+/− back] ( back vowels) #[+/− high] (close vowels) #[+/− low] (low vowels) #[+/− tense] (tense vowels) However, laryngoscopic studies suggest the features are # /− front( front vowels) # /− raised(
raised vowel A raised vowel is a vowel sound in which the body of the tongue is raised upward and backward toward the dorsum (soft palate). The most raised cardinal vowels are ; also quite raised are , and . Raised vowels and retracted vowels constitute ...
s) # /− retracted(
retracted vowel A retracted vowel is a vowel sound in which the body or root of the tongue is pulled backward and downward into the pharynx. The most retracted cardinal vowels are , which are so far back that the epiglottis may press against the back pharyngeal w ...
s) # /− round( round vowels)


Jakobsonian system

This system is given by .


Sonority

* /− vocalicvocalic, non-vocalic * /− consonantalconsonantal, non-consonantal * /− nasalnasal, oral * /− compactforward-flanged:
velar Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...
and
palatal consonant Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex. Characteris ...
, wide vowel * /− diffusebackward-flanged: labial and coronal, narrow vowel * /− abrupt* /− stridentstrident, mellow * /− checked


Protensity

* /− tense


Tonality

* /− grave
peripheral consonant In Australian linguistics, the peripheral consonants are a natural class encompassing consonants articulated at the extremes of the mouth: labials (lip) and velars (soft palate). That is, they are the non-coronal consonants ( palatal, dent ...
, back vowel * /− acute* /− medial coronal or
palatal consonant Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex. Characteris ...
, front vowel * /− flatnarrowed slit, wider slit * /− sharpwidened slit, narrower slit


Other uses

The concept of a distinctive feature matrix to distinguish similar elements is identified with phonology, but there have been at least two efforts to use a distinctive feature matrix in related fields. Close to phonology, and clearly acknowledging its debt to phonology, distinctive features have been used to describe and differentiate handshapes in
fingerspelling Fingerspelling (or dactylology) is the representation of the letters of a writing system, and sometimes numeral systems, using only the hands. These manual alphabets (also known as finger alphabets or hand alphabets) have often been used in deaf ...
in American Sign Language. Distinctive features have also been used to distinguish
proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...
s from other types of language such as slogans, clichés, and aphorisms.p. 73. Norrick, Neal. 1985. ''How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs''. de Gruyter. Analogous feature systems are also used throughout Natural Language Processing (NLP). For example,
part-of-speech tagging In corpus linguistics, part-of-speech tagging (POS tagging or PoS tagging or POST), also called grammatical tagging is the process of marking up a word in a text (corpus) as corresponding to a particular part of speech, based on both its definitio ...
divides words into categories. These include "major" categories such as Noun vs. Verb, but also other dimensions such as person and number, plurality, tense, and others. Some mnemonics for part-of-speech tags conjoin multiple features, such as "NN" for singular noun, vs. "NNS" for plural noun, vs. "NNS$" for plural possessive noun (see
Brown Corpus The Brown University Standard Corpus of Present-Day American English (or just Brown Corpus) is an electronic collection of text samples of American English, the first major structured corpus of varied genres. This corpus first set the bar for the ...
). Others provide more explicit separation of features, even formalizing them via markup such as the
Text Encoding Initiative The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is a text-centric community of practice in the academic field of digital humanities, operating continuously since the 1980s. The community currently runs a mailing list, meetings and conference series, and main ...
's feature structures. Modern statistical NLP uses vectors of very many features, although many of those features are not formally "distinctive" in the sense described here.


See also

*
Feature geometry Feature geometry is a phonological theory which represents distinctive features as a structured hierarchy rather than a matrix or a set. Feature geometry grew out of autosegmental phonology, which emphasizes the autonomous nature of distinctive ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * *{{cite book , last1=Jakobson , first1=Roman , author-link1=Roman Jakobson , last2=Halle , first2=Morris , author-link2=Morris Halle , year=1971 , title=Fundamentals of Language , publisher=Mouton , location=The Hague Phonology