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

c. Consonants
obstruent
sonorant
voiceless
stop p/p h
labial coronal palatodorsal
t/t h
k/k h
postdorsal
q/q h
spirant f/f s/S x/C X/
voiced b/B d/D g/ƒ G/“
nasal m n/N
liquid l/r
glide w/v j/Z h/h
Sapir’s discussion lacks formal rigour and a system of features, but we can
recognize in it some seminal ideas that I would like to build on later. First is the
notion that not all properties of a sound are equally important, but that certain
ones – the contrastive ones – are particularly relevant to the phonology. Second,
the contrastive status of a phoneme may differ from what its phonetics might
lead us to think; that is, the phonetics of a segment is a guide to its distinctive
properties, but is not sufficient to indicate what these are, and may sometimes
even be at odds with its phonological status. Finally, we determine what the
contrastive properties of a phoneme are by the phonetics in combination with its
phonological behaviour. This behaviour could consist of phonotactic restrictions,
or the way it alternates, or the effects it has on other phonemes.
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