Distinctive Features - Speech Resource Pages - Macquarie University
Distinctive Features - Speech Resource Pages - Macquarie University
Distinctive Features - Speech Resource Pages - Macquarie University
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7. English Consonant <strong>Features</strong> (an overview)<br />
The following table brings together (especially in sections 4 and 5) all of the<br />
consonants of English into a single table. It is simplified somewhat. For example,<br />
dark (velarised or vocalised) /l/ is ignored in this analysis (being an allophonic<br />
variation it doesn't really require a phonological feature). The most common<br />
features of the most common allophones of each consonant as they exist in<br />
Australian English are used as the basis of this table. This table, whilst based on<br />
Australian English, is applicable to most dialects of English with only minor<br />
changes.<br />
syll cons son cont delrel sib voice nas high back ant lab cor distr lat<br />
p - + - - - - - - - - + + - + -<br />
b - + - - - - + - - - + + - + -<br />
t - + - - - - - - - - + - + - -<br />
d - + - - - - + - - - + - + - -<br />
k - + - - - - - - + + - - - - -<br />
g - + - - - - + - + + - - - - -<br />
tʃ - + - - + + - - + - - - + + -<br />
dʒ - + - - + + + - + - - - + + -<br />
f - + - + 0 - - - - - + + - - -<br />
v - + - + 0 - + - - - + + - - -<br />
θ - + - + 0 - - - - - + - + - -<br />
ð - + - + 0 - + - - - + - + - -<br />
s - + - + 0 + - - - - + - + - -<br />
z - + - + 0 + + - - - + - + - -<br />
ʃ - + - + 0 + - - + - - - + + -<br />
ʒ - + - + 0 + + - + - - - + + -<br />
h - + - + 0 - - - - - - - - - -<br />
m - + + - 0 - + + - - + + - + -<br />
n - + + - 0 - + + - - + - + - -<br />
ŋ - + + - 0 - + + + + - - - - -<br />
l - + + + 0 - + - - - - - + - +<br />
r - + + + 0 - + - - - - - + - -<br />
w - - + + 0 - + - + + - + - + -<br />
j - - + + 0 - + - + - - - + + -<br />
If you carefully examine this feature matrix you will note that no two consonants<br />
have the same pattern of features. It is clear that this feature set is sufficient to<br />
distinguish between all of the consonants of Australian English.<br />
If you were to consider the distinction between the two main allophones of /l/<br />
(clear /l/ and dark /l/) it would be a simple matter of changing the [-back] to<br />
[+back] to indicate the velarising of the dark /l/. That is, its possible to also use<br />
distinctive feature to distinguish between allophones of a phoneme. Its not clear<br />
how valid it would be to do this as the distinctive features were developed as<br />
phonological rather than phonetic features and were in tended to distinguish<br />
between phonemes, but distinctive features can be used in rules that explain the<br />
selection of competing allophones.