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

(2.7) Ordering [voiced] > [nasal] applied to /p, b, m/
[voiced]
–4+
/p/ [nasal]
–2+
/b/ /m/
(2.8) Contrastive specifications with the ordering [voiced] > [nasal]
p b m
[voiced] – + +
[nasal] – +
This time we first divide the inventory on the basis of the feature [voiced]: /p/ is
the only voiceless consonant, and this feature suffices to set it apart from the
other consonants. There are two voiced consonants, however, and they need to
be distinguished by the feature [nasal], which is now contrastive only in the
[+voiced] set.
On this approach, contrastive specifications are determined by splitting
the inventory by means of successive divisions, governed by an ordering of
features (Jakobson, Fant and Halle 1952, Cherry, Halle and Jakobson 1953,
Jakobson and Halle 1956, Halle 1959). An algorithm corresponding to this idea,
the Successive Division Algorithm (SDA; Dresher 1998b, 2003a, b, based on the
work of Jakobson and his collaborators cited above), is given in (2.9):
(2.9) The Successive Division Algorithm
a. Begin with no feature specifications: assume all sounds are
allophones of a single undifferentiated phoneme.
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