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

the case of features defined to apply in limited circumstances). In any of these
cases, the SDA will move on to the next feature. As long as the full set of features
is capable of characterizing each member of the inventory in a unique way, the
SDA is guaranteed to find a unique set of contrastive features. Given a small
inventory, the SDA will stop sooner; a larger inventory will require more splits.
In every case, the SDA assigns a minimal set of specifications that meet the
Distinctness Condition.
Therefore, I conclude that of the two methods for arriving at contrastive
specifications, the pairwise method is inadequate on purely logical grounds,
whereas feature ordering is logically sound.
The hierarchical approach to contrastive specification imposes a task on
language learners and analysts that pairwise comparison does not: it requires
that the features be ordered. Although the feature order, or contrastive hierarchy,
is crucial to the functioning of the SDA, it is not itself discovered by the SDA.
Where does the ordering come from? I will return to this important issue in
subsequent chapters.
2.7. Other issues in a theory of contrastive features
The above sections have been concerned with how one decides which features
are contrastive in a set of phonemes: whether one does so in terms of minimal
pairs and logical redundancy or by feature ordering. This is the most
fundamental issue in an investigation of the logic of contrast. However, there are
other issues that arise in a theory of contrastive features that bear some
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