The contrastive hierarchy in phonology 2009 Dresher.pdf - CUNY ...

(4.8) Nasal and liquid contrasts via minimal pairs
a. Nasals b. Liquids
m n n@ r l l’
Saturation – – + Saturation – +
Gravity + – Continuousness – + +
These, too, may be simple mistakes in Jakobson’s chart.
The remaining discrepancies have to do with [vocality]. From the point of
view of the pairwise method, the voiced continuants are underspecified in
Jakobson’s chart while the vowels are overspecified for this feature.
According to the full feature specifications I have assumed, the voiced
continuants /z/, /v/ , and / z&/ form minimal pairs based on [vocality] with /l/,
/u/, and / l’/, respectively. Therefore, according to the pairwise method they
must be specified [–vocality]. On the other hand, the vowels /e, o/ need not be
specified for [vocality]. The mid vowels are unique in being specified
[±saturation], so they need only be distinguished from each other by one more
feature.
/a/ is a different case. It forms minimal pairs only with /u/ and /o/,
from which it is distinguished by [saturation]. Its lone specification [+saturation]
is indeed insufficient to distinguish it from any other segment that is
[+saturation], but it is too far from them to form a minimal pair that can be
recognized by the pairwise method. Therefore, the lack of specification of further
features in /a/ results from a failure in the mechanical operation of this
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