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

approach. Perhaps because of this Jakobson departed from strict minimal pair
comparisons to guide the specification of [vocality] in the vowels, which may
have resulted in the apparent over- and under-specifications.
4.5.2. Halle 1954: Standard Literary German
Though Halle 1954 refers to the ‘dichotomous scale,’ it does not appear to
consistently utilize feature ordering in the one example for which detailed
specifications are given, Standard Literary German, shown in (4.9). 6 Neither
feature ordering nor pairwise comparisons yield exactly these specifications.
(4.9) Feature specifications: Standard Literary German (Halle 1954)
m p b f v pf
Vocalic vs. non-vocalic – – – – – –
Consonantal vs. non-cons. + + + + + +
Compact vs. diffuse 0 – – – – –
Grave vs. acute + + + + + +
Flat vs. plain 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nasal vs. non-nasal + – – – – –
Continuant vs. interrupted 0 – – + + –
Strident vs. mellow 0 – 0 0 0 +
Tense vs. lax 0 + – + – 0
6 I have replaced Halle’s fÊ by pf, and s^ by ts. Halle notes that he has not indicated vowel length
contrasts, and that the distinction between /e/ and /æ/ is not phonemic among short vowels.
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