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

other values as listed, are shown in (4.11). I have shaded the specifications that
are zeros in Halle’s chart. Evidently, Halle has derived these specifications using
minimal pairs.
(4.11) Specifications of [–compact, +grave] segments by the SBA
a. strident > tense b. tense > strident
b p pf b p pf
strident – – + tense – + +
tense – + 0 strident 0 – +
However, it could not be the case that minimal pairs were used to derive
most of the specifications. For example, all the [–vocalic, +consonantal] non-nasal
phonemes are specified [–nasal], though only/b/ and /d/ are distinguished
from nasals only by that feature. Thus, the chart appears to have been basically
derived by feature ordering, and then perhaps some adjustments were made to
the specifications. The discrepancy between the order of features in the table and
the order required to derive the specifications may be due to a wish to maintain
the general order used for other languages in tension with an order that
appeared to be more appropriate for this particular language.
4.6. Ordered rules and the contrastive hierarchy
Halle’s The sound pattern of Russian (Halle 1959) is a major work in early
generative phonology. The book is in two parts: the first part presents a
phonological analysis of Russian, and the second, longer, part is devoted to
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